Man Utd boss praises ‘promising’ loan star after outstanding spell with Aston Villa and reveals future plans

The 24-year-old forward grabbed another two assists for Aston Villa in their win over West Ham United at the weekend which meant she is now joint second in the WSL assist charts.

Hanson has been one of the stars of the season the women’s top tier with 10 goal contributions in 14 games since signing on loan for Villa in the summer and is flourishing in the Midlands under highly rated boss Carla Ward.

And the Scotland international’s form has not been lost on the United boss as he shared his thoughts on the players progress this campaign with the player due back in Manchester come the summer.

“The whole reason I sent Kirsty out on loan is to actually get a viewpoint of her playing consistent games again” said Skinner.

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“We’re not hiding that fact that we are trying to push and progress to Champions League, compete for the league and compete for the cups, so we are pushing towards that and sometimes when you’re doing that it means not everyone can play.

“But when you’re as young and as promising as Kirsty is, you want to go out and get those minutes. There are little challenges we are setting her in order to keep completing but Charlotte (Healy) is managing our loans at the minute and she is keeping a really close eye on Kirsty.

“I am really happy for progression, I’m not surprised. Our ability to give her consistent minutes at her age wasn’t right there, so the whole point of loaning is to be able to that. I’m pleased with where she is at and I hope that she continues that.”

Skinner’s Manchester United side suffered their first defeat since November on Sunday as they lost 1-0 to Chelsea due to a 22nd minute Sam Kerr strike but turn their attentions to the cup this week as they travel to Women’s Championsip outfit Lewes in the quarter finals of the FA Cup.

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The United boss has given minutes to players in the cup compeitions this season but was quick to point out any changes he makes this coming weekend will need to be earned on the training ground, while he also updated fans on the fitness of January signing Jayde Riviere.

“Jayde has had two sessions. She trained yesterday and parts of the sessions today. She’s looked really sharp, so we are building her up and hopefully she’ll be able to come next week into a full training week. Everyone else, right now, is fit and healthy. It is a really competitive squad.

“We will look at what the games gives us and then put the personel around that. Its not about rotation for the sake of it. It’s about who is training well and who will give us the best moment, there may be some differences but if we do that it is because the players are the right skill set for the moment and the opponent we are facing.”