One Step Beyond… (Jessie Fleming interview)

A Canada international at fifteen and a two-time World Cup player before she turned professional, Jessie Fleming describes her first year at Chelsea as jumping onto a treadmill already going full pelt. She is careful and thoughtful about it: the change was gradual rather than a switch flipping, and she is candid that the mental side is the hardest part. Introverted and sensitive by her own account, she has struggled with self-confidence in a season of fewer starts, and speaks to someone through the national team every other week to keep her thinking constructive. She grew up watching Guardiola’s Barcelona with her father and worked with John Herdman on emulating Iniesta. Her perfect day involves a road bike, Richmond Park and a farmers’ market.