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Grace Clinton: Man United’s not-so-secret weapon

By   Marty Hill   • October 31, 2024

Manchester United forward Grace Clinton will be the club’s most important player this season. 

There are 23 United players who’ve been involved in the 2024-25 WSL season so far and none of them have scored more than Grace Clinton. 

After an outstanding season on loan at Tottenham Hotspur, in which the 21-year-old was voted PFA Young Player of the Year and named in the PFA Team of the Year, Clinton has made sure United have taken notice of what she can deliver on the domestic stage.

Her goal contributions have been worth four points to her parent club already this term. Manager Marc Skinner is still tinkering with his midfield composition with Brazil international Geyse returning from injury and Ella Toone struggling for form in front of goal, it makes sense that Clinton has been deployed further forward than we’re used to seeing her. 

Clinton’s smartly timed runs proved fruitful against West Ham and Brighton whilst her frontfoot pressing brought about the winning goal against her former side Everton. As things settle down, we’ll likely see her moved back into a more familiar central-midfield role. This shift could see United have one of the most well-rounded midfield talents in Europe on their books. 

So far this season, Clinton has had more touches in the final third (92), made more ball recoveries (35), had more shot-creating actions (15), won more tackles (12), completed more take-ons (8), won more free-kicks (7), played more through balls (4) and scored more goals (3) than any of her teammates. 

Clinton is also responsible for carrying the ball into the final third (9) and the penalty area (4) more times than anybody else in the side. It’s worth saying that this is not a ‘best of a bad bunch’ set of numbers. 

In fact, Clinton ranks in the top five players in the entire WSL in the majority of those metrics. Any player who can score more goals than Chelsea striker Mayra Ramirez whilst winning more tackles than Arsenal’s Katie McCabe is alright by us! 

The most telling data point is the one concerning carries. Players who can carry the ball into the penalty area are very useful, but players who can carry the ball from deeper areas into the final third and from the final third into the penalty area are worth their weight in gold.

Clinton is one of those rare players and Skinner needs to find a system that allows her to get on the ball in deeper areas to support build-up play, while maintaining her influence in the final third. 

United have other players who can go 1v1, beat defenders and create openings in the final third often enough for them to win the majority of the games that they would expect to win. But they don’t have other players with Clinton’s ability to orchestrate moves from deep and create a platform for the side to generate repeatable attacks. 

Whether it’s playing a “free eights” system with Toone and Clinton dovetailing with a destroyer-type behind or a double pivot which allows Clinton to play as a deep playmaker with a more physical presence alongside her, finding a way to stretch Clinton’s influence through as much of the pitch as possible is key.

Doing this will go a long way to defining United’s season. Clinton’s three goals have come from just 8 shots and an xG of just 1.2 – she’s the second biggest overperformer in the division so far behind only Chelsea’s Johanna Rytting Kaneryd. 

Based on those numbers, and the fact that she scored just four across the whole of last season, we might expect Clinton’s goal scoring to slow down a little as the season goes on. However, other characteristics of her game (the ability to carry through pressure, to force turnovers and enact defence-splitting passes) are much more sustainable. 

United’s summer signing Elisabeth Terland got off the mark in style against Tottenham just over a week ago and she’s currently running at 0.51 xG p90, so there’s little doubt that United will still have firepower as Clinton’s role in the side evolves. 

There will be some level of temptation from Skinner to keep a player who is scoring most weekends as close to the goal as possible, but United have to be smart. They have a serious chance at UEFA Women’s Champions League qualification this season but utilisation of Clinton will play a pivotal role.

Stats provided by RBREF.


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