Alessia Russo rising above the noise about her future with Man Utd performances
Alessia Russo could have allowed herself to become unsettled by the two world record bids submitted by Arsenal in the final two days of the January transfer window.
Instead, the Manchester United striker has remained laser-focused in the weeks since then and is steering her team towards everything they are dreaming of.
Russo’s clinical hat-trick in Sunday’s 5-1 thrashing of Leicester opened up a four-point lead over reigning champions Chelsea, albeit with the Blues having two games in hand.
Meanwhile, Manchester City leapfrogged Chelsea into second place with their win over Tottenham and are three points behind United on the same number of games. Arsenal are fourth, nine points behind, but also with games in hand. With eight matches left to play, United are in the driving seat in the Champions League race and, with a trip Chelsea next up, maybe more.
The Red Devils have gambled with Russo. The second bid from Arsenal was reported to be worth £500,000, an enormous amount in women’s football, just six months before she could potentially become a free agent. United are determined for her to stay long-term but clearly also value her short-term impact higher than what Arsenal were ultimately prepared to pay if it means her goals bringing previously elusive Champions League football to Leigh Sports Village next season.
Having continued to impress regardless, Russo netted her first goal since the transfer deadline off the bench in last month’s FA Cup win against Durham. The 24-year-old then proved absolutely unstoppable when Leicester arrived at Leigh on Sunday.
Russo scored twice in the first half, both classic ‘number nine’ finishes – one a rebound, one a back-post header. Her third wasn’t vastly different either, tapping in after Martha Thomas had flicked on a near post corner. On top of that, the England star’s all-round play was excellent and she also laid on one of United's other goals for Leah Galton.
For Marc Skinner, honing that killer instinct is something Russo has been working on.
“One of the things we’ve asked Alessia to do is stay alive more when it comes to pre-thinking and anticipating where the ball might go and I think she’s done an excellent job of that today,” Skinner said. “I think her third goal in particular, where everyone else has switched off and she’s carried on and found the moment to finish.
“We know she has wonderful technical ability, great hold-up play and she can score many varied goals – head, floor – but today I was really impressed with her staying alert to opportunities.”
Skinner, who previously spoke of a positive conversation with Russo the morning after deadline day, went on to say that he has ‘always been impressed by her attitude’, which he says hasn’t changed regardless of the Arsenal interest or her somewhat uncertain future.
“There is a lot of love in our team for Alessia and she reciprocates that, she knows how important she is to us. What we’ve had to do is sweep away some of the noise around and just get her focusing – all credit to her, she has done that,” the boss explained.
“Alessia is a super-talented person. Us internally – you will judge her from the outside on goals and assists – but nothing has really ever changed, she has just continued to work hard. That’s how we’ll keep working with her and hopefully we can keep her at the club.”
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