Spurs Women’s Beth England undergoes “minor surgery,” will miss start of WSL season

Today, Tottenham Hotspur Women announced a serious injury-related blow to their upcoming WSL season — the club tweeted that England international striker and World Cup runner-up Bethany England has undergone “minor surgery” and is out for an undisclosed period of time.

The original tweet from the club didn’t give a ton of information, and in fact “minor surgery” makes it sound like, hey, that’s not so bad, right? No. It’s pretty bad. Beth posted a statement on her personal account that gives a little more context and confirms that she is set to miss the opening part of the season while she heals.

This is, obviously, pretty bad. Like, potentially catastrophic news. She mentions that she’s been struggling with the injury “for a few months” which implies that she likely sustained whatever the issue is ahead of the World Cup and opted not to have surgery prior so that she could participate. That’s fair. I’m not thrilled with the decision, but I can certainly understand it.

However, I’m less thrilled with the timing of this announcement, especially one day after Spurs Women revealed that Polish international striker Nikola Karczewska is heading to the Frauen-Bundesliga on a season-long loan to Bayer Leverkusen. As Abbie wrote this morning, this means that Spurs will likely need to lean on players like the newly-signed Grace Clinton, Ellie Brazil (who missed most of last season with a serious injury), and Rosella Ayane as its primary goal threat.

Spurs really didn’t need this, especially after a season where they sacked their manager and nearly got relegated. Losing Beth is going to suck, and Tottenham are potentially going to need every single point they can muster. Robert Vilahamn is going to be implementing a new pressing, up-tempo tactical style, but it remains to be seen whether that will survive Beth England being out for any length of time. Guess we’re going to find out.