City signed Lavelle from OL Reign alongside USA team-mate Sam Mewis in August
Wednesday 30 September 2020 22:22, UK
USA World Cup winner Rose Lavelle is set to make her Manchester City debut against Arsenal in the Women's FA Cup semi-finals on Thursday.
City signed the midfielder from OL Reign last month alongside international team-mate Sam Mewis, who arrived from North Carolina Courage, as Women's Super League (WSL) teams significantly strengthened in the summer.
Lavelle had to self-isolate following her arrival in the UK amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and had also been recovering from an injury, but is set to made her debut as City look to defend their FA Cup crown.
"Rose has been training hard," City boss Gareth Taylor said on Wednesday as teams look to conclude the 2019/20 tournament, which has rolled into the new season.
"What we're trying to do with her is make sure that when she is introduced, which is hopefully over the next couple of games, she's ready.
"She's slight in stature and had an issue when she first came with a slight injury to her ankle, which had been picked up at her previous club.
"We made sure she had adequate strength in her leg before we pushed her through vigorous training. We have a decent stock of players in that position, which allowed us that bit of time for her to be ready.
"It's hard taking players from another club or country and we've seen mistakes happen in the past where players don't have an initiation period - where they're just thrown in.
"She's been keen to get in and join in but we've had to keep the reins on her. Hopefully, we'll start to see her, which gives us another option. That's great.
"This season, we're building a squad for the next couple of seasons to help us compete on all levels.
"There's been quite a bit of activity around the FA Women's Super League this summer - we've brought in new players and other teams have done their recruitment earlier with settling in periods. We'll see what happens and we're excited."
Arsenal boss Joe Montemurro also faced the media on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's semi-final and confirmed Lia Walti and Steph Catley are in the squad to face City, but Steph Catley is ruled out.
"It's very, very important that we make a good account of the situation," Montemurro said of the game against City.
"As I've said many times, we're in every tournament to win it. It's obviously tricky with the scheduling but it is what it is and we need to make sure we're prepared for it.
"Ever since I've been here, with City alone, we've been quite competitive. We beat them twice last year and we unfortunately lost to them at the Academy Ground.
"They're a very good team and they've recruited very, very well again this year. It's going to be a really good indicator for us as to where we're at."
