Leah’s Here… (Leah Williamson interview)

Seventeen-year-old Arsenal midfielder Leah Williamson reviews a year in which she debuted at sixteen, won the FA Women’s Cup, played under five managers, went to the Under-20 World Cup in Canada and was voted Continental Cup Player of the Season. She admits she never expected to be so involved, and saw the departure of admired senior players as a space to move into. Still in awe of Kelly Smith and Casey Stoney, she learned to place herself on their level rather than believe she was the weak link. Williamson recalls Notts County switching Jess Clarke to the wing to target her and treating it as a challenge, rates lifting the FA Cup in her home town as her highest point, and plays down the controversy over Canada’s artificial turf.