Mo Marley ‘100% willing’ to pick Eni Aluko for future England squads

Mo Marley, England’s interim women’s coach, would be “100% willing” to consider selecting Eni Aluko for future squads after revealing that her application to succeed Mark Sampson on a longer-term basis has been submitted to the Football Association.

On Wednesday the FA apologised to Aluko and her Chelsea team-mate Drew Spence for racially discriminatory remarks on Sampson’s part. The former England manager was described as having made unacceptably “ill-judged attempts at humour” by the investigating barrister Katharine Newton, who nonetheless did not conclude that he was racist.

The 30-year-old Aluko, who has 102 caps, has not played for England since 2016 but Marley, previously England’s Under-19 coach, is adamant she intends to pursue an open door policy. “I’ve only been in the post 10 days but in those 10 days we’ve had talent spotters out assessing everybody available to play for England,” she said as her squad trained in northern France on Thursday before Friday night’s friendly against Les Bleues in Valenciennes.

“It’s not just about one player, there’s a lot of good young talent out there and we want to find players playing regularly and doing well for their clubs who can help us get to the World Cup finals here in France in 2019 and, more importantly, go from No3 in the world to No1. I want to give everybody an opportunity to be part of that.”

Asked if that meant a potential chance for Aluko should the striker perform well for Chelsea, Marley replied: “Yes, 100%, that’s the way I work. If a player’s getting good talent reports I’m in a position where I can look at that.” This season Aluko has been selected mainly as a substitute by Chelsea and will evidently need to re-establish herself as a regular in Emma Hayes’s team.

Given Aluko’s criticism of England’s players for racing to embrace Sampson after Nikita Parris scored the opening goal of their 6-0 World Cup qualifying win against Russia at Prenton Park last month, any recall would also be politically loaded. The striker’s response, delivered via Twitter, was scathing: “For the most together team in the world tonight’s ‘message’ only shows a level of disrespect that represents division and selfish action,” she wrote.

Marley, meanwhile, submitted her application to become England’s new manager before Tuesday’s deadline. The 50-year-old, who assisted Hope Powell, Sampson’s predecessor, has agreed to take charge of next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kazakhstan and is regarded as a favourite to secure the role permanently in January.

A holder of the pro-licence coaching qualification and a former Everton women’s manager, Marley ticks a lot of boxes and, significantly, worked with every member of the current senior squad at under-19 level.

Yet if the FA regards the next three games as an audition, she sees the experience as an opportunity to gauge whether she really wants the role. “I get a trial run to see how it works but it’s about finding the best person for the job,” said Marley. “It’s been a difficult time for the players but so far I’m really enjoying it, having worked with them in the past there’s a familiarity which helps. If they want to say something to me, they’ll talk openly.”

Even so she admits the departure of the popular Sampson, who led England to two major semi-finals, had hit her squad hard. Some players are said to be “shattered” by their former mentor’s exit.

“They’re strong, independent women who know how and when to focus on football but it’s been really difficult for everybody,” Marley said. “When you work with people, and people are part of the team for such a long time, you build up personal relationships. With changed management there are so many different emotions and it’s for me to help manage that, understand where people are at – but also help them focus on the new beginning which is Friday.

“I’ve made it clear that now it’s about how can we work together to get through this and put in a great performance against France.”

It will not be easy as Les Bleues are eager to impress a new manager of their own. Corinne Diacre, the ground-breaking former coach of Clermont Foot men in Ligue Two has succeeded Olivier Echouafni, sacked in the wake of his side’s Euro 2017 1-0 quarter final defeat by Sampson’s side.

That was England’s first win against France since 1974 and Diacre’s players are out for revenge.