New Blue On The England Block (Alex Greenwood interview)

Everton defender Alex Greenwood, at Goodison since the age of eight and still only twenty, discusses breaking into the senior England set-up and winning her first four caps. She recalls the surprise of Mark Sampson’s first squad call-up to La Manga and how familiar Everton faces such as Rachel Brown-Finnis, Toni Duggan and Jill Scott eased her in. Greenwood describes the forfeits Sampson uses to keep players sharp, rates Kelly Smith and Arsenal’s Danielle Carter among the toughest opponents she has faced, and backs the five Everton players from the Under-20 World Cup squad, singling out Nikita Parris. She is frank about learning to control her emotions, swinging from celebration to wanting to quit within two days, and reveals that away from football she works as a qualified personal trainer.