Maya Le Tissier has made case for England centre-back role – her talent there should not be wasted – The Athletic
When Lucy Bronze was asked who she spent her downtime with during England’s victorious 2025 European Championship in Switzerland, one name kept cropping up: Maya Le Tissier.
England manager Sarina Wiegman sees right-back as Le Tissier’s “first position” for her country but also acknowledges the 23-year-old does a good job at centre-back for Manchester United.
This has always been her stance. The wrinkle is Le Tissier does not play right-back week in, week out.
“Maya Le Tissier has started 104 games for United,” United’s official X account posted a fortnight ago. “103 of them have been at centre-back.”
At her former club Brighton, Le Tissier played at right-back for two seasons. Scouts at the time assessed Le Tissier as a right-back and Wiegman, in her first year as England manager, evidently did too.
For the last two seasons, the United captain, making a record 72 consecutive starts for her club, has been arguably the most in-form centre-back in the Women’s Super League, and was named in the 2024-25 PFA Team of the Year alongside Millie Bright.
She mainly played centre-back in the England youth setup, captaining the Under-17s at the 2019 Euros, and occasionally at right-back when needed. But up until England’s 2-0 defeat to Brazil on Saturday, she had never played centre-back under Wiegman.
Le Tissier is competing with the indomitable Bronze at right-back and captain Leah Williamson at right centre-back but given her form, she should have had more playing time. Before Saturday, Wiegman had used Le Tissier just once in England’s 13 games in 2025 — coming on for Bronze in the 57th minute against Portugal in the Nations League in May. Her last start was in December against Switzerland. Even when Bronze has come off, Wiegman turned to Niamh Charles, who plays left-back for Chelsea, against the Netherlands, Wales and Spain during the Euros.
Wiegman has played Le Tissier infrequently (Molly Darlington – The FA via Getty Images)
But with Bronze returning to fitness from her fractured tibia and Charles building fitness from an ankle injury, finally Le Tissier, wearing Bronze’s usual No 2, was given a chance against Brazil, albeit at right-back. Jess Carter and Esme Morgan formed a centre-back partnership while Alex Greenwood played at left-back.
Brazil, however, struck first and England were 2-0 down within 18 minutes. For both goals, England were initially in possession and Le Tissier, as she has been told to do, was high up the pitch.
That leaves spaces for teams to exploit and, as we have seen with Bronze, there are benefits and drawbacks to Wiegman’s risk-versus-reward approach. In this game, Brazil’s goals came from a central position as opposed to England’s right-back area but the vacated space was still evident. There was little Le Tissier could do and even if she had been at centre-back, the issues came from a lack of midfield control.
By playing her so infrequently, Wiegman has indirectly put pressure on Le Tissier to perform but she proved she can do a job at right-back. She linked play, got forward — in the front line at one point — offered options out wide, was positionally aware when she had to choose between Brazil’s winger Yasmim and forward Dudinha and tidied up calmly at the back but the automatisms, understandably, are not there. The Guernsey-born defender showed what she does best just before half-time, using her strength to regain possession.
In the 60th minute, when Bronze’s No 12, Le Tissier’s Euros squad number, came up on the substitutes’ board, Le Tissier slotted alongside Morgan at centre-back and immediately looked more at ease. England’s passing tempo increased and she organised the backline well.
“She’s got really good positional awareness,” said Morgan after the game. “She is very instinctive in terms of making blocks, tackles, is strong one-v-one, a good distributor as well. I love playing with Maya.”
Le Tissier, who said she felt like she was always on work experience with Bronze, told ITV she felt much more comfortable at centre-half. “I have to think a little bit more at full-back,” she said. “To be honest, I’m just really happy to play and get on the pitch. It has been frustrating for me.”
The 23-year-old could not have done anything more to stake a claim for a starting position. Given Leah Williamson is injured — her replacement Katie Reid withdrew — and Bright has retired, there are openings at centre-back. The table below shows her willingness to play long forward passes, either diagonally to wingers or more direct for runners in behind. That can be used to release pressure or catalyse an attack to turn the opponent to face their own goal. England lacked this against Brazil.
Defensively, she has an aggressive style, has speed to cover channels, is strong at tackling (as shown by her 69 per cent “true” tackle win rate) and, crucially, ranks the best aerially.
Le Tissier should be at the top of the pecking order among Wiegman’s centre-back options. The problem is that England lack depth at right-back, as Wiegman admitted after the game. You can therefore understand why she plays Le Tissier there, thinking about the long term.
In June, Bronze agreed: “All the things I love doing, Maya has those attributes. She loves defending, is strong, fast and fit. It’s good for her development to learn two positions.”
Le Tissier was just grateful for minutes but such talent in her most comfortable position should not be wasted.
