Taylor sympathizes with Ward’s ‘difficult’ scenario of seeing a player leave Villa

GARETH TAYLOR admits Aston Villa boss Carla Ward faced a “difficult” situation when Manchester City swooped for Laura Blindkilde Brown.

The Cityzens chief responded to Ward’s considerations about sealing a January transfer deadline switch from Villa to City.

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The title chasers, who play WSL rivals Everton today, completed the move after activating the player’s £200,000 release clause.

City opted to strengthen their forwards after midfielder Jill Roord suffered a season-ending knee ligament injury in January.

The club also lost the services of striker Deyna Castellanos and midfielder Julie Blakstad.

The duo sealed moves in January to American club Bay FC and Swedish side Hammarby before Blindkilde Brown joined from Aston Villa.

Of his conversations with Ward, Taylor, 51, said: “There was a lot going on behind the scenes there.

“Nils (Nielsen, director of women’s football at Man City) was involved in a direct conversation with their general manager.

“Coming into a situation with what had happened with Jill, and having players who were going to disappear in that window in the form of Deyna and Julie, it was important that we brought in a player.

“A player who could potentially help us, maybe not necessarily right away, but someone who we see as a very bright talent for the future.

“I think it was difficult for Carla because she obviously didn’t want to lose the player.

“But we were lucky that we acted so quickly and that we were able to secure her, so we are very happy.

“Of course you don’t want to appoint another coach who respects you, and I really respect Carla.

“But we had to act quickly and we managed to get the deal done, which is great and has made Laura feel very comfortable.”

Speaking to Fara Williams on the Boots, Balls and Bras podcast, Ward opened up about her reaction to hearing City were looking for one of their rising stars.

And she was “gutted” to see the young Lioness leave after her 10 league appearances for Villa this season.

Ward said: “Gareth called me, I have a good relationship with him, and he said ‘Look, we’re a few midfielders behind’ and I said ‘don’t even think about it’.

“He said, ‘Look, we’re coming to get Laura.

“Out of respect I wanted to give you a heads up, we have a very good relationship.”

“My exact words were, ‘Please don’t do this because it will hurt us.’

“It happened quite quickly, I immediately called Lee, our football director, and said: ‘We can’t let this happen’.

“I have to admit I was quite vocal about it, I was gutted, it was something I really didn’t want to happen, we didn’t need it to happen, but sometimes things are completely out of your control.”

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Blindkilde Brown could feature for City this lunch break following her injury-time cameo during the 2-0 defeat to Leicester on February 4.

A home win against the Toffees would see the club leapfrog Chelsea and move top, with the sides currently level on 34 points each.

“The Blues play the Foxes tomorrow.