2025 hasn’t begun the way Naomi Girma expected. Though the beginning saw the former San Diego Wave defender make a historic million-dollar move to Chelsea, her WSL debut ended prematurely as she left the pitch within 59 minutes. Since then, the USWNT star has remained sidelined, missing significant action on both the domestic and international fronts. While her club appears prepared to manage her absence for now, Emma Hayes has also developed a ‘real sense’ of the need to strengthen depth in her defense.
Well, technically, it’s more than just defense. But the talking point remains that the English boss has realized what positions she exactly needs to stack up. This is a step that not only concerns the short-term challenges like the upcoming one they are about to face against Brazil, but also the long-term ones, like the preparation for the World Cup.
“I think it’s fair to say in both fullback positions, we will be looking at depth in those areas,” began Hayes while speaking with The Attacking Third, after having attended today’s NWSL match between Angel City and Seattle Reign at BMO Stadium. “Arguably with Naomi Girma not being available, it allowed us to look at a couple of other players centrally. So I feel in the center-back position, we’ve got a real sense of the depth there.”
When it comes to midfield, Hayes believes the team possesses a lot of young players. She cited names like Lily Yohannes (17), Claire Hutton (19), Korbin Albert (21), Jaedyn Shaw (20), as well as Olivia Moultrie (19). Yet, Emma insists the coaching staff wants to invest more time in the development of these starlets.
“We’ve got a glut of young players. But the reality is that I took over a program that had a lot of players with a lot of top-end caps and a lot of players that were below 15-10 caps. So we have to build that experience in this period to make sure that we just have more depth with those exposures at both the U23 age group and WNT,” emphasized Hayes.
Simply put, expect a lot of changes and moves within the USWNT roster as clearly, Hayes is keen to make additions to her team that provide her with significant depth. A safe move, considering injuries are the only thing that ends up affecting the coach’s decision-making. Just look at Girma, as it has eventually forced Hayes to start looking beyond the highly rated defender. Speaking of which, are there any injury updates on Naomi?
A ‘week-by-week’ update outlined for Naomi Girma
Truth be told, Naomi Girma arrived in London as an injured player. The 24-year-old had been dealing with a minor calf injury. Yet, the move was completed, as the Blues saw the USWNT star as the solution to solve their ongoing defensive worries. However, after a 32-day wait, her debut ended in disappointment. During Chelsea’s 2-2 draw against Brighton, Girma signaled to the bench around the 56th minute, pointing to her left calf before limping off.
As play continued, she sat down, prompting the physios to check on her. Ultimately, she was substituted, eventually confirming the setback. Since then, Chelsea has played several crucial games, including winning the Women’s League Cup against Man City and staging a remarkable 3-0 comeback in the second leg of the UWCL quarter-finals after trailing 2-0 in the first leg against the same opponent.
While her return in upcoming fixtures would prove to be favorable, Sonia Bompastor had some updates regarding her star center-back. In a presser earlier as compiled by the Athletic, the Dutchman said, “We have been assessing Naomi and I think we’ll take it week by week with her.” This also suggests her return date is not available, meaning fans would have to wait more.
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