Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor says Jill Scott has a future at the club, despite the England midfielder joining her former club Everton on loan in order to secure more playing time.
Scott, who turns 34 on February 2, signed a two-year contract extension with City last summer which allowed her to combine playing and coaching, but she has now returned to the Toffees on loan until the end of the season, having made just two starts for City this campaign.
A desire to make the Great Britain Olympics squad this summer and earn the England cap that would see her reach the 150-mark were behind the decision to go back to Everton, albeit on a temporary basis, but Taylor insists she remains part of his plans at the Etihad Campus.
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"She has a future [here] but it's really hard to say with players when retirement is going to come calling," Taylor said ahead of Sunday's WSL game against West Ham.
"It could be one more season, another two seasons, it's really difficult to determine.
"I've spoken to Jill about the role and responsibility the club has earmarked for her. At this moment, I like the fact she's saying 'no, I want to play'.
"Jill was obviously wanting to play more minutes in more games to give herself a shot of playing in the Olympics.
"Ideally, we don't want to lose any players. We don't bring players into the club to allow others to go.
"We want to compete with the likes of Chelsea who have a really strong squad and can potentially fill two teams.
"At the moment we can't do that, so in an ideal scenario we wouldn't let players go, but we had to be sensitive to Jill's needs and respect what she had done previously for us.
"Hopefully she gets to the desired outcome at Everton and then we'll see what happens with the Olympics."
Taylor: Consistency key to title chances
With the women's top-flight season at the halfway stage going into this weekend's fixtures, Manchester City are third in the WSL table on 24 points, five points behind leaders Chelsea and rivals Manchester United, but with a game in hand on Casey Stoney's side.
Confidence remains high among Taylor's squad, with four consecutive league victories - including a 7-0 win at home to Aston Villa and a 7-1 thrashing of Hope Powell's Brighton away in their last two matches - leaving them in a strong position to mount a concerted title challenge in the second half of the season.
Taylor added: "All the hard work and effort we've put in is reflecting in the performances now. Each player has contributed.
"The team has changed quite a lot because at some points you have a really heavy schedule, so it's about making sure everyone is available and contributing as much as possible.
"On top of that, when you throw in a pandemic, which obviously affects everyone, it makes it a difficult season to operate in.
"What you are looking for is to try and gain consistency. We had some good consistency of performances and results before Christmas and fortunately, with the two league games at the start of the year, we've started well and we need to continue that.
"The games we've got coming up in the next few weeks - and it's probably going to be the same for the rest of the top four - they're probably going to have a big say on the title and Champions League places.
"The one thing you can't do is underestimate all the other teams. We've got a really big game against West Ham on Sunday and it's important that we put three points on the board and look forward to next week."