Two-time USA World Cup winner Alex Morgan says joining Tottenham was a “no-brainer” ahead of her potential debut against Manchester City in the Women’s Super League.
The 31-year-old forward, considered to be one of the highest-profile signings of the summer, joined Spurs from American side Orlando Pride last month and is viewed as one of the most influential female footballers.
“Joining Spurs was important to me because it’s such a good organisation,” Morgan said. “I had the opportunity to come here before the World Cup last year and see the facilities.
“Seeing the progress the women’s team has made and the facilities we share with the men, it was a no-brainer for me to join this organisation.
“The WSL has done such a great job bringing over such great talents and to compete in one of the best leagues in the world right now was the best option for me.”
Morgan is lacking in match fitness following the birth of her daughter Charlie in May and has not played competitively for over a year, but is keen to gain minutes ahead of the delayed Tokyo Olympics next summer.
She was an unused substitute as Spurs lost 4-0 to Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter-finals, but has not ruled out making her first appearance for the club against last season’s WSL runners-up City on Sunday.
“After pregnancy I needed to get games in, as many games as possible going into 2021, knowing that the Olympics is next year, so I wanted to put myself in the best position possible to get fit and ready for that,” she said.
“I’m really hopeful of getting on the field soon. This weekend will be two weeks of me completing training and so we’re taking it day by day.
“I have to look at the length of time I’ve been out and the fact that my body needs to get back to full fitness, so we’ve had a flexible plan starting with the first day I was here.
“If I play I won’t be starting because 90 minutes is too much for my first game back, but we still have one more day to look at and see if I feel ready to go. No one wants to see me in a game more than myself.”
1:30Tea-drinking celebration in WSL?
Tottenham will hope Morgan’s eventual return to competitive action can kick-start their season following a draw and a defeat in their opening two WSL games.
Morgan, who has scored 107 goals in 169 appearances for her country, is also remembered for pretending to sip tea as she celebrated scoring a header in the USA’s 2-1 semi-final win over England last summer.
“You’re not going to be seeing the tea celebration [in England],” she laughed.
“I love my team-mates and I said they can do the tea celebration, but I’m going to take a step back on that one. They already did it in training – one of the girls did it after scoring a penalty.”
Man Utd’s ‘unbelievable’ Heath and Press
Elsewhere in the WSL, Manchester United host Brighton on Sunday with both sides unbeaten at this early stage.
Morgan’s international team-mates Tobin Heath and Christen Press are yet to make their United debuts, but they are both available for Casey Stoney’s side this weekend.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the way they’ve integrated what they’ve brought into our environment, their mentality is one of the reasons we brought them in,” United boss Stoney said.
“They’re winners, you know, you can see that in the training environment already.
“They’re going to take a little bit longer to get up speed because they’ve not played for such a long time.
“You can train on your own but you cannot replicate the game, so we have to be patient with them.”
United defender Millie Turner recently signed a new contract with the club until the end of the 2021/22 season, with an option to extend for a further year.
The 24-year-old became the first player to reach 50 appearances for the women’s side and says the chance to learn from Heath and Press is “unbelievable”.
0:37“They are very, very good players and it’s something different that this league’s not really had before, this team haven’t had before,” Turner said.
“For us to be able to learn off them is unbelievable and I think we’re really developing from having them here.
“For them to come into the group is great. All our signings have been unbelievable, they’ve settled in so well.
“We have a very good team mentality here at United, [and we] can’t wait to show what we’ve got at the weekend.”
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