Mersey Beaucoup (Valerie Gauvin interview)

France’s centre-forward joined Everton on a three-year deal in August and scored the Wembley equaliser that sent the FA Cup final to extra time. Speaking through the club’s interpreter, she credits her compatriot Maeva Clemaron with almost everything about how quickly she settled – translating instructions in training, showing her Liverpool, making the move work. Her heading, she insists, was never something she had to practise; a World Cup journalist told her she puts her head where others are afraid to put their feet, and she enjoys the physical side rather than tolerating it. Her first World Cup goal, against Norway in Nice, is the one that will stay with her, scored in the south with friends in the stands and her mother and sister at every game she played.