An in-depth look at Manchester City’s Alex Greenwood

Since moving back to Manchester in September 2020, Alex Greenwood has become a hit with City fans and manager Gareth Taylor alike, securing her place in the staring eleven twenty three times across all competitions.

The defender, who started her career at Everton, competed in the UWCL and featured in the 2014 FA Cup Final for the club before their relegation and Greenwood’s move to Notts County. She spent just two years with a side that included the likes of Carly Telford, Laura Bassett and former City teammate Ellen White, once again reaching an FA Cup Final at Wembley, having made only a small number of appearances and playing a part in that famous free kick against Arsenal.

Greenwood made Mark Sampson’s squad for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada as the youngest player and returned a Bronze medalist, moving back to her home city of Liverpool and joining her former club’s rivals.

Once again, the twenty seven year old spent just two years with the Reds and after being cruelly knocked out of the 2017 Euro semi-final by the hosts and eventual winners, she joined Manchester United and captained them to the FA Women’s Championship title and helped them gain promotion to the FA WSL.

Alex has been present in the Lionesses squad since 2014 and she also made the squads for the 2019 She Believes Cup, which England won and the World Cup in France, scoring against Cameroon in the Round of 16.

Having spent only a year with United, she decided to stay in France and moved to the biggest women’s club in Europe, if not the world in Olympique Lyonnais, making her debut for the club in the 2019/20 season UWCL final; her first appearance in the competition since 2010 and by the time her contract came to an end, she had won a quadruple of trophies.

The Liverpudlian joined Manchester City on September 9^th 2020 and made her first appearance in the starting line-up against Brighton four days later.

Greenwood has settled into the team in a seemingly effortless manner and has helped the club win back-to-back FA Cups, playing alongside the likes of Abby Dahlkemper and former Lyon teammate Lucy Bronze, as well as good friend and goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck, “we’ve been friends through England and to have her here day to day has been really nice” Roebuck previously said of the defender.

Photo by Tom Flathers/Manchester City FC via Getty Images

“It’s really refreshing… she’s slotted in brilliantly and there’s definitely more to come – I’ve seen it and I know what she’s capable of” she added and City fans have definitely seen it too and have embraced Alex with open arms, despite being unable to watch her play in person due to the ongoing pandemic.

Alongside captain Steph Houghton, Dahlkemper, Bronze, Esme Morgan and the rest of the backline, Greenwood could be the key to making this defensive powerhouse capable of winning the club their first WSL title since 2016 and a first under Taylor.