Sarina Wiegman admits Beth Mead will need a ‘miracle’ to be ready for the World Cup

England manager Sarina Wiegman has admitted Beth Mead will need a “miracle” to recover from a cruciate ligament injury in time for this summer’s World Cup.

Mead, who won the European Championships golden boot, had not ruled out making the tournament in Australia and New Zealand after suffering a knee injury in November.

The forward told Sportsmail last month she was ahead of schedule in her recovery but Wiegman, who announced her 25-man squad for the upcoming games against Brazil and Australia, believes the World Cup will come too soon.

“I’ve had conversations with her, she’s doing well in her rehab, she’s fine,” Wiegman said.

“But the World Cup is actually still too early. What we have said now is that she is not in our plans right now, just really take the time to get well again.

Sarina Wiegman believes Beth Mead (pictured) will need a ‘miracle’ to be ready for the World Cup

Mead has been out since tearing her cruciate ligament while playing for Arsenal in November

“But if a miracle happens and she goes [through recovery] so fast, we’ll reconsider. But at the moment I don’t expect that.’

Wiegman is blessed with a number of attacking talents, including Rachel Daly, who was listed as a forward in this squad after being previously appointed a defender by the Lionesses boss.

Daly’s selection as a forward means Ebony Salmon is out, preventing Bethany England from being recalled.

“This camp is her [Daly] Chosen as a forward, we know she’s very versatile… but we want to try again now. In our last squad we had more strikers, but you want to see them in our environment and also take chances to get a few minutes when you have the opportunity.

“So now I’ve decided to use fewer centre-forwards because I see Ebony Salmon and Beth England as centre-forwards but there’s so much competition in that position.

“I think we have some other players that can play there, as you saw last fall we had Lauren Hemp in that position once, which we like a lot too. We haven’t done this lately because we’ve been trying other things. But that’s also in my head.’

Wiegman (R) has stated that Mead is currently not in their plans for the World Cup this year

Mead would be a huge loss after helping England to glory at the European Championship