Bri’s British Wonderland (Brianna Visalli interview)

Projected as a first-round pick after a record-setting four years at Pepperdine, Brianna Visalli went nineteenth overall in the 2018 NWSL draft, then found herself a Chicago Red Stars reserve working three jobs behind a midfield of Julie Ertz, Vanessa DiBernardo, Danny Colaprico and Sofia Huerta. Unable to be traded because a reserve has no trade value, she concluded she had to leave the country. A British passport through her Dutch-born mother made England possible, and she signed for a newly professionalised West Ham United. She talks to Sophie Lawson about being told all her life she would not make the next level, about wanting to be technical and energetic rather than have her size count against her, about telling Phil Neville she would be honoured to play for England, and about the BBC Three cameras following the squad.