Leah Williamson: England captain has ACL rupture confirmed and will miss this summer's World Cup
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Updated 21/04/2023 at 14:53 GMT
After going off injured in Arsenal's midweek WSL match with Manchester United, the club have confirmed that Leah Williamson suffered an ACL rupture to her knee; a blow that will rule her out of this summer's World Cup. The Lionesses skipper has been instrumental in the rise of both her side and her country, and her absence will no doubt be felt keenly.
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Leah Williamson has suffered an ACL rupture to her knee, her club Arsenal have confirmed, which means the England skipper will miss this summer's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Williamson went down injured during her club side's 1-0 WSL loss to Manchester United on Wednesday, and looked instantly in pain even if she managed to walk off the pitch.
The 26-year-old, who lifted the European Championships with the Lionesses in 2022, is one of a number of players to have suffered an ACL tear of late, with club mates Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema both currently recovering from the injury.
Arsenal's statement read: "We can confirm that Leah Williamson suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in our Barclays Women’s Super League match against Manchester United on Wednesday night.
"Leah was substituted in the first half of the game at Leigh Sports Village and underwent further assessment on Thursday to determine the extent of the injury.
"Leah will now begin a period of rehabilitation and is set for an extended spell on the sidelines. She will undergo surgery in due course.
"Everyone at Arsenal will be supporting Leah closely throughout the journey ahead and we would ask that her privacy is respected at this time."
Williamson said on Instagram: "Until I have the words to express my feelings properly, I will struggle to verbalise them. The noise around the situation is loud, and I need some quiet to let it all sink in.
"I haven’t had a day since last October when I’ve walked on to the pitch without a physical or mental question mark over me, and that’s professional sports. So now I have to listen to my body, give it what it needs and if everything happens for a reason. Then we’ll see what road this turn sends me down.
"I have given and will continue to give everything that my body, mind and heart possibly has to the Arsenal and Lionesses, I will still be there through thick and thin for all of my teammates and their biggest supporter."
It's already doubtful that Mead will make the World Cup, even despite being months into her recovery from her ACL injury.
If that was enough of a blow for Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman - losing the striker who walked off with the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament award at the Euros - then being without her influential captain is another huge setback.
Williamson's centre-back partner during the Euros - Millie Bright - has also not played since last month after sustaining a knee issue of her own.
England's long unbeaten run was also ended in April after a 2-0 defeat to Australia. Wiegman, however, was not perturbed by that.
"I'm not worried. I don't worry very quickly," she said.
"We know we have to be at our top level and that's when we go into the World Cup too.
"Every game we get some warnings - against Brazil we got some warnings in the Finalissima. We know where we want to go to and what we have to do.
"I don't think we're losing momentum, I think it's building. There's 100 days to go and everyone's really excited to go to Australia and this is just a very big learning moment for us that we need to get to a higher level to win these games."
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