Manchester United expect Mary Earps to leave with the goalkeeper considering an attractive offer from Paris Saint-Germain.
Earps is out of contract at United at the end of this month and the Women’s Super League side have offered the 31-year-old improved terms in a bid to keep her.
United’s offer represents a better package overall for Earps but finances are not a priority for the England international, who wants to compete for trophies at this stage in her career. United believe theirs is a strong offer but still expect Earps to leave at the end of this month.
As it stands, Earps has a decision to make with both offers on the table. PSG are ready to welcome her if she does decide to move to the French club.
The Athletic reported PSG’s interest in Earps back in January, having previously reported that she expressed her desire to leave United last summer.
Discussions over a new contract for Earps began after England’s European Championship victory in July 2022.
United then turned down a world-record bid for a goalkeeper when Arsenal tried to sign Earps before the WSL summer transfer window closed on September 14.
Earps is far from the only United player with an uncertain future, with Katie Zelem and Nikita Parris also out of contract on June 30. The WSL transfer window officially opened earlier this week.
United captain Zelem is also out of contract (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
The uncertainty over key players in the women’s side comes after comments made by United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in an interview with Bloomberg last week.
Asked whether United would consider looking for external investment into the women’s side as Chelsea have, Ratcliffe replied: “We haven’t got into that level of detail with the women’s team yet.
“We’ve been pretty much focused on how we resolve the first-team issues in that environment and that’s been pretty full-time for the first six months.”
United finished fifth in the WSL last season, their lowest league finish since winning promotion in the 2018-19 campaign.
They did win the FA Cup — the women’s team’s first-ever major honour — and manager Marc Skinner was rewarded with a one-year contract extension, with the option for an additional 12 months.
The FA Cup win was slightly tainted when United cancelled the whole club awards dinner, in order to limit distractions for the men’s team ahead of their own FA Cup final. That came after the women had already won their FA Cup and The Athletic reported that Skinner’s side only found out about the decision from that report. United said they regretted the manner in which the club’s women’s players first discovered the event had been cancelled.
Earps has played 125 times for United since joining from Wolfsburg in 2019. PSG, meanwhile, broke Lyon’s hold on the Division 1 Feminine in the 2022-23 season but finished 11 points behind them last term.
(Lewis Storey/Getty Images)
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