Skinner addresses transfer window after deadline day

Our new no.8 joined in a deadline day deal, with fellow midfielder Grace Clinton going the other way, to Manchester City.

Skinner accepted that fans would be disappointed to see Clinton depart, but reaffirmed his belief in United as the right place for young players to develop.

Asked whether Clinton’s departure could be seen as a failure for United, Skinner flatly disagreed.

“I don’t think it’s that,” he said, in his first WSL press conference of the new season, previewing Sunday’s home game against Leicester City.

“From our perspective, I want to thank Grace, we’ve been quite clear on that. We, as managers, can have personal relationships with players and we can see things differently but what’s clear is we’ve tried to learn from past mistakes and, if people don’t want to be here, we have to find the best solution for Manchester United.

“Grace has made her decision, but I have no doubt that this is an incredible place for players to develop and we’ve seen that over the last few years.

“It’s disappointing for the fans, I’m sure, but we have to move forward with players who 100 per cent want to be at Manchester United, and that wasn’t the case, so we move forward.

“We have a fantastic player in Jess Park, a bright, young talent who I think we can get even more out of than we saw at City.

“I spoke to Jess and her focus is on those central pockets but, when I look at it and I see her versatility of quality, she invades spaces so well. What I love most about Jess and I’ve told her this, is when she picks up the ball, she makes things happen. She can score and create, and it’s not a fault of Manchester City, but I think we can get more out of her. I think she’ll be able to dribble, drive and create more for us.

“But, more importantly, when you speak to Jess, she’s got this wonderful rebellious attitude towards wanting to win and be here. She’s come because she wants to continue to learn, get better and be unlocked to her capacity. That’s so enticing and I think our fans will fall in love with her.”

Discussing the window more generally, Skinner explained his surprise at some of the deals conducted late on, especially London City Lionesses’ record-breaking deal for Grace Geyoro. It was the third time the record had been broken in this one window.

“If we’re being really honest, the window’s gone crazy, right?” Skinner said.

"I’ve just been hearing about the Grace Geyoro move, and that is crazy! The window and the market has shifted so much that, actually, a lot of teams will have looked at it and decided, we need to strategise in a slightly different way.

“The players we’ve brought in have been incredible. If you looked at bringing in experience to a really talented young group, you’ve got players from Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, who have won 30 titles between them. Depth will be something we need to address in the winter window, we have to be active in the window.

“We looked at a couple of players from abroad, especially for the right-back cover area and they didn’t materialise in this window, but I think we’ve done a lot of work for the winter window, in terms of putting things in place.

"We have enough in the frontline to adapt and cover the two games a week, but apart from that, it was people moving their prices and lack of availability; people didn’t want to lose their players in this window.”