Having suffered an ankle injury on international duty back in March, the Rochdale-born Blue was ruled out for four to five months.
It’s a challenging situation for an 18-year-old - particularly one who had been a first-team regular; also making waves at international level.
The midfielder, who signed her first professional contract with the Club last June, is remaining positive though. She knows she has years ahead of her and has a mature outlook on her current situation.
We caught up with the England U19 star to see how she is progressing and keeping her spirits up...
In Keira Walsh’s words...
I’ve started running outside again and it’s been great to have the ball at my feet.
In the past few weeks, I’ve done a lot of work in the gym, particularly on upper body strength and balance.
It’s been a bit easier for me this time because I knew what to expect - I suffered the same injury last year, so I came to terms with it a lot quicker.
I’ve been speaking to the psychologists and they’ve told me to focus on other things, other than the fact I’m not playing. As well as gym work, I’m hoping to get more involved in the analysis side too.
I know everything I’m doing now will help me to become a better player.
I’ve spoken to the coaches about the fact I’m still young. I’ve been thinking about my future. That’s why I went for surgery - I know I have plenty of time to play and I don’t want any more injuries.
There’s no rush - I don’t want more time out and things could be a lot worse.
I’ve had a lot of support. The girls are great - I see them every day and they always ask how I am and they try to make me laugh to cheer me up. They have good banter so I’m never down when I’m around them.
I’m so pleased with the way they’ve started the season. It’s fantastic and the girls couldn’t have done much more. To have kept seven clean sheets, scored 15 goals and be top of the league is exactly where we wanted to be going into the break.
They fully deserve it. I’ve been watching training - every player always puts in 100% - and that’s definitely helped the team to where they are.
It shows the strength of the squad that we’ve managed to do that with so many injuries. Everyone is capable of playing and competing at the highest level, even the Development Squad players who’ve come in.
There’s so much quality and it’s been great to see so many different players play for City.
Admittedly, it is difficult to compete for one position, especially when you’re coming up against friends but there’s certainly no hard feelings anywhere. For example, I share the same position as Jen Beattie and we get on so well - she’s always cracking jokes.
We all share the same target. As long as the team are winning, that’s all that matters.
The break has come now and in terms of whether that’s good for us, I guess you can look at it both ways.
We’ve been on such a strong run that we want games to come thick and fast but it will be good for the players to have a bit of a break so they can come back and be even better.
Let’s hope they can continue where they left off.
