Eniola Aluko still believes England can secure qualification for Great Britain at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The Lionesses – who need to finish top of Nations League Group A1 to have a chance at claiming GB an Olympic spot – slipped to third after losing 3-2 in Belgium on Tuesday. Sarina Wiegman’s side, with six points from four games, are three behind leaders the Netherlands and one behind second-placed Belgium. Their final two group fixtures see them play the Dutch at Wembley on December 1 and then Scotland at Hampden Park four days later. Former England and Team GB forward Aluko said: “It is a tough group with the Netherlands, Belgium and Scotland. It is not an easy group at all. I think the Nations League is deliberately competitive. “Really, England have got to win the last two games to have any chance of qualifying, but if any team is going to prove anyone wrong it’s the Lionesses, and they have done so well in the last two years.” Aluko is not doubtful that England – who were World Cup runners-up over the summer, a year on from winning the Euros – could pull through because they “have everything to win those last two games”. She added: “I think sometimes there can be a bit of a hangover from the World Cup where you have a massive high and then come back to normality. “Sometimes it takes players a little bit to get going again. The season only just started again and we are only five games into the Women’s Super League. “Fatigue is not just physical – it is mental as well. There are so many games and so many tournaments. “Frankly, the women’s game is really competitive. On any given day, Scotland can beat England and Holland can beat England – that is the sort of level of competition we are dealing with.” Aluko was speaking after she collected an MBE for her services to association football and to charity on Wednesday. The Prince of Wales, who presented Aluko with her MBE at a ceremony at Windsor Castle, told her “this feels like this is overdue”, and she later said of that moment: “It was lovely and a really, really nice thing to say.” Broadcaster and football executive Aluko’s playing career included featuring at three World Cups, three European Championships and the London 2012 Olympics. She began her career at Birmingham and had subsequent spells at Charlton, Chelsea and in the United States before returning to Birmingham in 2012. Aluko rejoined Chelsea from 2012 to 2018, during which time she won two WSL titles, the WSL Spring Series and two FA Cups. After announcing her retirement from playing in January 2020 following a spell with Juventus, Aluko had stints as sporting director at Aston Villa and Los Angeles-based Angel City FC. The 36-year-old has also worked heavily with charities and organisations such as Charity Water, Common Goal and Unesco. Read More Football fan convicted of racially abusing Rio Ferdinand Welsh rugby still has deep-rooted issues that need to be sorted – Alun Wyn Jones A bit far-fetched – Eoin Morgan dismisses link with England white-ball coach job England star Alex Greenwood well enough to return home after head injury Tiger Woods-designed course gives ‘a lot of options’ ahead of PGA Tour debut Golf, fish tanks, slippy socks and stray balls – freak injuries to cricket stars

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Eniola Aluko has left football fans baffled after sharing a theory about Declan Rice’s potential move to Arsenal, suggesting that the north London club asked Manchester City to put in a bid for the player. Arsenal have been chasing Rice over recent weeks and had an offer of £75 million plus £15 million in add-ons rejected. It’s also emerged that Man City have entered the race and had a £90 million bid rejected too, reportedly falling short of West Ham’s £100 million valuation for the player. Now, former England international Aluko has claimed that it could be a case of Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta calling up his former colleague Pep Guardiola and getting him to place a bid without really being interested in Rice. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Aluko has been sporting director for Aston Villa Women and Angel City in the US, and she said that it’s a tactic she had used in the past - but fans on social media aren't at all convinced. Aluko said: “There’s a lot of cat and mouse here and as a sporting director, I used to do this a lot. “I used to call up a club and say 'right, can you put a bid in' and that would get my owner to basically put a higher bid in. It’s a bit like an auction. “I don’t think that Manchester City actually want to sign Declan Rice. I think what is going on here is that Arteta has picked up the phone to Pep [Guardiola] and said ‘Arsenal are going to do the incremental bid approach, if you put a bid in, then that will push my owner’. “I think there’s a bit of that going on here.” Aluko went on to say: “I don’t know why Arsenal are doing this incremental approach but it says to me, Man City coming in later on, it feels like that it is going to help Arsenal. “The fans are going to get on it now and say ‘hold on a second, if you let Declan Rice go to Man City when he was our No.1 target, then that says a lot about Arsenal. “So I think there is a bit of that going on. I used to do it all the time and it used to work.” The opinion didn’t go down well with fans on social media, with users criticising the take. “What a bizarre take,” one wrote. Another said: “This might be the worst take I’ve ever heard.” One more commented: “Worst opinion and take I've seen on here for a while. Is she on a wind up or is this genuine?” Another added: “Pep just bidding £90m to help a mate is a proper weird take.” Former striker Aluko played 102 times for England, scoring 33 goals. She played for Chelsea, Atlanta Beat, Chelsea and Juventus during her club career. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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