da winzada777： The 22-year-old helped the Cityzens defeat Arsenal and Chelsea in a huge week, and deserves to continue that momentum with her country

da apostaganha： How big a week could this end up being in Jess Park’s career? After making back-to-back starts for Manchester City for the first time in two years and producing a match-winning display in their monumental win over Chelsea, the 22-year-old now heads off to Spain for England’s first two fixtures of 2024 – and Sarina Wiegman is surely looking at granting her an opportunity to continue that momentum.

Park has had to be patient this season. Having thrived on loan at Everton last year, she’s stuck around in Manchester this time and it’s not been easy to break into a team that is now joint-top of the Women’s Super League. However, the reason they now hold that status is in no small part thanks to the England starlet.

Her performance on Friday, at league leaders Chelsea, was outstanding. No one created more chances than Park, who’s delicate through ball set up Khadija Shaw to score the winning goal inside 15 minutes. She did her work on the other side of the ball, too, winning possession back four times and making three clearances, a number only bettered by Laia Alexiandri and Alex Greenwood, Man City’s centre-back duo.

It's always felt like Wiegman has seen something in Park. While still quite young and forging her way in the WSL, she has continued to receive England call-ups on a consistent basis and has been granted a decent number of chances by a manager who doesn’t shake things up all too often.

So as the young forward comes into the Lionesses’ first camp of the year on a real personal high, the likelihood of her being granted just a second-ever start for her country feels big. In fact, Park’s sprightly manner could be exactly what England need as they look to bounce back from the Nations League heartbreak that devastated them at the end of 2023.

GettyOn the brink of something special

It was some seven years ago that Park signed for Man City, from York City, with her only 16 years old when she debuted for the club in a Continental Cup win over Doncaster Belles back in the 2017-18 season. She’s had some incredible moments in the time since, scoring a hat-trick against Ipswich Town in the FA Cup in early 2020 and, at the end of the same year, providing the assist that allowed Georgia Stanway to give City the lead in extra-time in that competition’s final.

But she’s always been on the fringes of a first team that has long boasted an abundance of attacking assets, only once hitting double figures for appearances in the league in her six seasons so far.

AdvertisementGettyLearning on loan

Last season’s temporary switch to Everton was crucial in Park’s development, then. She made 19 starts in all competitions, having racked up just 21 for City in the five seasons prior, contributing five goals and five assists in her first campaign as a regular starter for a WSL team. It was a strong showing from a player who was just 20 years old when the season began.

“Jess has been great for us and it shows in the minutes we’re giving her,” Everton boss Brian Sorensen said last term. “There are still things in her game she needs to improve but, as a whole, she looks much more confident than when she first came in.

"She is really trying to develop her physical side, she’s really taking steps in the right direction there. Then it’s just being smart under pressure – and being consistent, always tracking back and doing the right stuff. When she gets that right, you will almost have the complete, finished product, but she still has years to grow and we’re happy to help her with her development.”

That growth didn’t go unnoticed back at her parent club, either. Speaking about her time on Merseyside, Man City boss Gareth Taylor said on Friday: “There were times last year when I was monitoring her progress and I was like, ‘As much as she's growing and developing elsewhere, we could really do with her here'.”

But after being on the fringes for so long, the time Park spent playing regularly was important, and it set her in good stead to come back to City and make an impact.

GettyOpportunity knocks

In the first half of this season, though, it felt justified to question why the Cityzens didn’t send Park back out on loan. The 22-year-old had played just 101 minutes in the WSL by the time the winter break rolled around, from six substitute appearances.

She was doing all she could in the Conti Cup to try and earn a place in the league, scoring twice and providing one assist in five appearances, but that place on the bench on a weekend remained unchanged. She was trying to break into a team that was competing for the title, after all, one with top players performing consistently well.

But then City were dealt a real blow. Jill Roord, who had thrived since arriving from Wolfsburg for a bumper fee in the summer, ruptured her ACL at the end of January. It was devastating news for the player, of course, and the whole team. Roord’s attacking threat from midfield had helped City thrive and it wasn’t going to be easy to replace.

Park, some 15 centimetres shorter than the Dutchwoman, is a very different player but she is a threat in the final third in her own way. And since a space has opened up in City’s midfield, she has grabbed the opportunity to fill it with both hands.

Stepping up

Taylor admitted on Friday that if Roord was fit, then “she plays”. But it says a lot that, in her absence, he looked to Park, over Filippa Angeldahl or Mary Fowler, two established senior internationals, to start the huge FA Cup fifth-round clash with Arsenal and then, five days later, the trip to Chelsea in the league. They were her first starts of the season that didn’t come in the Conti Cup, and her first back-to-back in two years.

“She's always been there,” Taylor said on Friday. “I think she's always been a player that has really interested me. I mean, she helped us win our first trophy together as a team, coming off the bench and showing real maturity from a young age. She's had to be patient, but her training levels and her attitude has been first-class, and I think is a real example for any young player. She's now broken into the England set-up as well.

"We've adjusted her position a little bit but I've always felt she's capable of playing in between the lines. She picked up some good positions this evening and worked tremendously hard as well.”

When GOAL noted that it said a lot of Park for her to come in and thrive in what was probably City’s biggest week of the season so far, Taylor showed no sign that he had been surprised. “Yeah but she's capable,” he responded. “You look at Jess and you see, physically, okay, she's not the biggest, but her agility is very good, her ball control and her technique is very, very good.

"With Jess, the thing that's going to make her world-class will be her final action, but she is improving a lot on that, working hard with Shaun [Goater, the former Man City striker who is part of Taylor’s coaching staff] in training and she's really contributing to the team at the moment.”