Mary Earps leaves Man Utd to become highest-paid goalkeeper in world
Manchester United have confirmed that goalkeeper Mary Earps is set to leave the club when her contract expires.
The England international is set to join Paris Saint-Germain in a move that will see her become the highest-paid women's goalkeeper in the world. Earps has been at United since 2019 and helped them win the FA Cup last season.
She also won the Euros with England in 2022 and has twice been named the best women's goalkeeper in the world by FIFA. Speculation surrounding her future at United began to swirl after her starring role in the Euro 2022 triumph and the club even rejected a world-record bid for a goalkeeper from Arsenal last summer.
However, their attempts to convince Earps to stay have failed, with the club announcing she will be leaving when her contract expires at the end of the month. "Everyone at the Manchester United would like to thank Mary for her fine service and wish her the best of luck in the next stage of her career," they said.
Earps is now expected to join PSG in a big-money deal, having admitted in May that she wanted assurances from club chiefs about United's future in order to stay. "It's a tough situation," she told Sky Sports News.
"I've asked the club for some confirmation on what they're trying to achieve and when I have those answers I'll be able to make a decision. It's up to the club." However, United's plans to further develop their women's team have been put on the back burner ever since Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS took control of football operations.
In an interview with Bloomberg earlier this month, Ratcliffe admitted that plans for the women's team have yet to be confirmed. "We haven't got into that level of detail with the women's team yet," he said.
Mary Earps celebrates with the Women's FA Cup trophy
"We've been pretty much focused on how we resolve the first team issues, and that's been pretty full-time for the first six months." Earps' departure is the latest major blow for United, with key players Alessia Russo and Ona Battle also leaving the club for free last year.
Russo and Battle joined Arsenal and Barcelona respectively, while United also announced on Wednesday that club captain Katie Zelem will also be departing when her contract expires at the end of the month.
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