Manchester United and England ‘keeper Mary Earps has been voted as the England Player Of The Year for 2023, according to a report from BBC Sport.

Last year, the award was collected by Arsenal superstar Beth Mead – however, a long term ACL injury has effectively ruled her out of contention this year.

Earps is also up for the FIFA best goalkeeper award, alongside Christiane Endler of Lyon and Ann-Katrin Berger of Chelsea – she won the award last time out in 2022.

Recently, there have been rumours circulating that Earps may choose to swap Manchester United for Arsenal before the start of the 2023/24 WSL season – however, he final decision is yet to be made.

In a post on her official Instagram account, Earps wrote: “Wow, feel so humbled & grateful to be named England Women’s Player of the Year! Bit emotional actually! Thank you to everyone that voted for me and thank you to my incredible teammates.”

Did Mary Earps deserve the award?

Without a doubt, Earps deserves the award. Of course, she isn’t the only England player who has performed well at both club and country level over the past year, but few have had an impact quite like the Red Devils shot stopper.

In the World Cup, Earps was simply sensational. She conceded just three goals over the course of the entire tournament – most notably, she also pulled off a spectacular penalty save in the World Cup final against Spain, although her efforts were not enough to give England the victory.

Which other England players were in contention?

Of course, Earps wasn’t the only Lionesses player who was in contention for the prestigious award. One of the other candidates was Barcelona all-star Lucy Bronze – last season, she helped to guide the Catalonian giants to both the La Liga title and the Women’s Champions League.

Additionally, Manchester City defender Alex Greenwood was also one of the selected player who fans could have voted for. Like Earps, she did not win any trophies at club level last season, but her positive influence on the rest of the Lionesses team simply could not be overlooked.