LONDON COLNEY, England -- Arsenal manager Renée Slegers shared her support for Michelle Agyemang who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury during the international break with England and said the club will "do everything to support her."
The 19-year-old was stretchered off the pitch during England's friendly against Australia having been subbed on in the second minute.
After the 3-0 victory on Tuesday, Lionesses manager Sarina Wiegman said that "it did not look good" and several days later, Arsenal -- Agyemang's parent club -- and Brighton -- where Agyemang was spending the season on loan this season -- confirmed the ACL tear.
Agyemang saved England twice during the Euros leading to her nomination for several Young Player awards. She also scored one goal in six games for Brighton before her injury.
"When these moments happen, it's horrible because you know that it will keep them away from the game for a long time," Slegers told a news conference on Friday.
"It's a long investment for those players to come back again. If you look at Michelle specifically, I think she's been doing so well. Her loan at Brighton has been really positive. She's had all those minutes for England, contributing, winning the Euros."
"She was in a really good place, so of course the timing of this isn't great, it's never a good timing. But she's very strong and we're of course very proud to have her and we know that she has the strength to come back. We're going to do everything to support her.
Slegers' own playing career was cut short via injuries and can empathise with how Agyemang is feeling, having dealt with two ACL injuries of her own.
"I've gone through it twice as well, so I know what it does, how much strength it takes both physically, but not the least mentally to come back. But again, like I said, [Agyemang] is very strong, she's young, she's a young adult, but she's very, very strong. So she will have the strength to come back and we will do everything we can to support her."
Though Katie Reid missed out on playing during her first senior call up, withdrawing from the squad through injury, Slegers revealed that she is available for Sunday's WSL clash with Leicester City.
Olivia Smith, who was injured during Canada's friendly with Wales and Daphne van Domselaar who also withdrew ahead of The Netherlands' camp, both are eligible according to the manager.
Arsenal face Leicester City on Sunday to start the next block of games. It is a crucial block of fixtures with very little room for losses having already had a slow and disappointing start to the season.
They won only three of their six WSL games, with two draws and a loss to leave them five points behind leaders and holders Chelsea.
"I think looking back at block one, the results were very, very mixed and not what we wanted. Performances the same. So we want to look forward. We want to get the absolute best out of ourselves, and football will never be perfect, but show bigger spells and really show our strength on the pitch as a team."
Arsenal also lost their opening Champions League game 2-1 to Lyon further extending their disappointing run.
They've already dropped more points in the first block than Chelsea dropped all of last season, leaving little room for error in the next three weeks. Arsenal face the prospect of a London derby with Chelsea and two crunch Champions League games against last season's opponents Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in their next five matches.
"We, of course, previewed the block, and framed the block and what we want to achieve and how we want to do things, and there's a real positivity and the players come back with real energy and real intent," Slegers said.
"That's what we want to achieve in the block. It's very cliché, but we're going to take it game by game. So a combination of being in the moment, playing that next game, it's the most important game you'll ever play, so that will be Leicester on Sunday."
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However, Slegers admitted that the international break came a good time for the squad, allowing the players to have a change of scenery and allow the coaching staff to really hone in on what they need to do to ensure victory before the next international break at the end of November.
"I think the more time you have to reflect and to plan, the risk is that you want too many things and you have a long list. I think what the challenge is, is what exactly are the main and most important things that we want to achieve and want to reinforce and work on? I think we've done a really good job with the staff," she said.
"Being professional athletes, a lot of things are asked from you every single day, you have to perform at your absolute best, both mentally and physically. I like that as a player as well, that change of scenery, go somewhere else.
"That also gives you perspective and new energy and you come back. I just felt today, the players back in, just very proud to be part of Arsenal and having that shirt on again, even though it's a training shirt. But that's really what I felt today. So we look forward to the next block."