Laura Blindkilde Brown: Who is Man City’s newest star signing? | OneFootball

Laura Blindkilde Brown maintains the image of a bright, technically gifted midfielder for both club and country. The midfielder has proven to be a talented, consistent individual throughout her career so far and is on an upward trajectory for success.

After attracting a lot of attention through her performances, Manchester City have snapped up the rising English talent from Aston Villa.

Quietly determined on the field, the 20-year-old from Worcester possesses a high level of tempo and pace in her game. Through her skills, she controls aspects of gameplay, aiming towards progressive action in the final third. Quick and accurate in possession, particularly with her short passes, she can weave her way around the pitch.

Formerly a reliable starter for Aston Villa, Blindkilde Brown’s dependability at club level has been honoured for two seasons in a row. At 18, she was awarded Aston Villa’s Young Player of the Season following the conclusion of the 2021/22 season. The same award was achieved by the star again at the end of the 2022/23 season.

Last year, she was further nominated for the Women’s PFA Young Player of the Year award, standing beside senior internationals Lauren James, Lauren Hemp and Maya Le Tissier.

Blindkilde Brown has now made the switch to Man City, so let’s take a closer look at her portfolio so far.

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Starting out

Blindkilde Brown began her footballing career with Aston Villa U9s after being scouted at school. Following her continuation at Villa’s academy, she made the temporary move to Birmingham City. After joining City’s U23 academy, she made her senior debut at 16 against Manchester United in the League Cup in December 2019. Her senior WSL debut came a month later in extra time during the Blues’ match against Arsenal.

However, ahead of the 2020/21 season, the bright spark returned to Villa’s academy at 18 years old, making 24 goal contributions. The midfielder even scored a hat-trick in the academy’s match against Man United. As soon as Blindkilde Brown turned 18 in September 2021, she signed her first professional contract with the club.

Blindkilde Brown made her senior debut for Villa against Reading in the WSL and appeared 15 times across all competitions. Out of the 11 WSL matches she appeared in, she started seven of them. Within this season, Villa’s number 19 scored her first senior goal in a 7-0 win against Sunderland in the Continental Cup.

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Current domestic performance

Before the break, Blindkilde Brown had appeared in all but three of Villa’s matches across the WSL and Continental Cup. Missing out in only the last few games leading up to the break. Making 10 appearances across both competitions, she started all three Conti Cup games, and all but one in the WSL.

In her third season with her childhood club, the dynamic midfielder ended 2023 with 54 appearances in claret and blue. Since coming back from the break, the appearances continued. Blindkilde Brown featured in Villa’s game against Everton in the FA Cup and made her way back into the starting lineup against Sunderland in the Conti Cup. Since then, she has put on amazing performances across the full length of the game against both Leicester City and Manchester United in the WSL.

Last season, Blindkilde Brown appeared in 29 out of the 31 games available across all domestic competitions. She played 21 games in the WSL, only missing one game for the Villans. Out of these, she featured in the starting line-up 16 times. Featuring in every Conti Cup game, both matches where Blindkilde Brown made the starting line-up, she saw to the final whistle.

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Finally, she missed only one FA Cup match and saw particular success in Villa’s 11-0 victory against AFC Fylde, scoring her second senior goal in the seventh minute.

Overall, last season was highly demonstrative of the promise of the rising star. Her consistent performances meant that already, in her second season after her senior debut, she’d become a prominent part of Villa’s squad.

At international level

Currently, England’s young midfielder is part of the national U23 squad who ended 2023 on an unbeaten run. Last international window, the team won against France and drew with Spain, posing a clear threat against their European competition.

England’s No.10 — although her shirt number has varied previously — has become a steadfast young Lioness, first integrated into England’s youth setup from the age of 13. However, things could be very different for Blindkilde Brown internationally. The midfielder is eligible to play for Denmark as well as England through her mother.

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With the signing of Blindkilde Brown’s first professional contract, came the decision to change the name she plays under. Formerly playing under just her English surname of ‘Brown’, with the addition to her Danish second name, her jersey now shows the combination that we are familiar with now. With the name on the back of her jersey now representing both sides of her family.

While at Birmingham City, Blindkilde Brown was named in Lydia Bedford’s U17 squad ahead of the qualifying round of 2019’s UEFA Women’s U17 Championship. England won all three matches, netting 10 overall, conceding only one goal against Belgium in which Blindkilde Brown starred.

In U19s, the midfielder saw success in helping England qualify for the 2022 Women’s U19 European Championship. After her debut season at Villa, she featured as a staple squad member in the summer for the Lionesses. However, England made it to the third round but lost against Sweden and Germany, narrowly missing out on the semi-finals.

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Going forward

As the midfield maestro develops her game, establishing herself further in her position domestically and internationally, we can expect great things from the 20-year-old. With time, Blindkilde Brown will no doubt start to earn profit from her developing vision for goalscoring movements.

The rising star is now embarking on her next chapter. Blindkilde Brown has joined Villa’s WSL rivals Man City on a three-and-a-half year deal, with the Telegraph’s Tom Garry recently stating a fee of £200,000 was involved.

Statistics from FbRef, SoccerWay and Flashscore, with early scouting and international availability information via Goal.com’s exclusive 2022 interview with Laura Blindkilde Brown.

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