Gareth Taylor sympathises with Carla Ward’s ‘difficult’ scenario of seeing rising star leave Aston Villa for Man City  

GARETH TAYLOR admits Aston Villa boss Carla Ward faced a “difficult” predicament when Manchester City swooped for Laura Blindkilde Brown. 

The Cityzens chief was reacting to Ward’s reflections on the forward sealing a January transfer deadline day switch from Villa to City.

GettyLaura Blindkilde Brown was one of three players signed by Manchester City on January 31[/caption]

GettyThe England Under-23s forward has settled in well at Manchester City[/caption]

GettyGareth Taylor’s Man City side are due play Everton in the WSL today[/caption]

The title chasers, who play WSL rivals Everton today, finalised the move after activating the player’s £200,000 release clause.

City opted to strengthen their forward ranks after midfielder Jill Roord suffered a season-ending knee ligament injury in January.

The club also lost the services of striker Deyna Castellanos and midfielder Julie Blakstad.

The duo sealed January moves to US club Bay FC and Swedish side Hammarby prior to Blindkilde Brown’s switch from Aston Villa.

Of his conversations with Ward, Taylor, 51, said: “There was a lot going on behind the scenes there at .

“Nils (Nielsen, Man City Women’s football director) was involved speaking directly to their general manager.

“Because we were thrown into a situation with what happened with Jill, and had players who were going to be out-going in that window in Deyna and Julie, it was important that we got a player in.

“A player that was potentially going to help us, maybe not necessarily straight away, but someone that we see as being a really bright talent for the future.

“I think it was difficult for Carla, because obviously, she didn’t want to lose the player.

“But we were fortunate in how quickly we acted, and we were able to secure her, so we’re really, really pleased.

“Of course, you don’t want to stitch up another coach that you respect, and I do really respect Carla.

“But we had to act quickly and we managed to get the deal done, which is great and Laura has settled in really well.”

Speaking to Fara Williams on the Boots, Balls and Bras podcast, Ward opened up on her response when she heard City were looking to sign one of her rising stars.

And she was “gutted” to see the young Lioness depart following her ten league appearances for Villa this term.

Ward said “Gareth rang me, I’ve got a good relationship with him, and he said: ‘Look, we’re a couple of midfielders down’ and I said ‘don’t even think about it’.

“He said: ‘Look, we’re going to be coming in for Laura.

“I wanted to give you a heads-up out of respect, we have a really good relationship’.

“My exact words were: ‘Please don’t do this because it will hurt us’.

“It happened quite quickly, I rang Lee straight away, our director of football, and said: ‘We can’t allow this to happen’.

“I must admit, I was quite vocal about it, I was gutted, it was something I really didn’t want to happen, we didn’t need it to happen, but sometimes things are completely out of your control.”

ReutersCarla Ward’s Villa team host Liverpool in the WSL on Sunday[/caption]

Blindkilde Brown could feature for City this lunchtime following her injury-time cameo during their 2-0 defeat of Leicester on February 4.

A home win against the Toffees would see the club leapfrog Chelsea to go top with the sides currently level on 34 points each.

“The Blues will play the Foxes tomorrow.