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FOOTBALL

Maya Le Tissier: It’s really good to be a role model for the girls and boys in the Channel Islands

Women's Super League - Manchester United v Chelsea
Le Tissier, left, has impressed since her summer move from Brighton to Manchester United
ED SYKES/REUTERS

A senior England call-up is a defining moment in the career of any footballer, but for Maya Le Tissier it was not only an individual accolade but one that represented the entire island of Guernsey.

The channel island has a population of less than 65,000 and when the 20-year-old was growing up there were no women’s football teams for her to join. It is not lost on the Manchester United defender that her call-up is a seminal moment for youngsters in Guernsey, allowing them to see another professional player recognised internationally, following in the footsteps of Matt Le Tissier, the former England and Southampton midfielder who earned his last cap 25 years ago.

“It’s really good to be a role model for the girls in the Channel Islands, and the boys because they don’t get that many opportunities to show what they’re about and for them to be able to see there is a pathway,” Le Tissier, who is not related to her famous namesake, said.

“Beforehand there wasn’t really a pathway. Obviously Matt did it but that was quite a while ago, so for them to see I can do it and they can do it as well, it’s really good for them to push towards and to have someone to look up to.”

Her unorthodox upbringing — including becoming the first girl to play for Guernsey in a male under-16s match against Jersey, making her national news in England when she was only 15 — is one she credits for helping her to adapt to the Women’s Super League, first with Brighton & Hove Albion before her move this summer to Manchester United, where she has impressed.

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“I think that’s what made me the player I am today, I suppose, playing with the boys back home from when I was four until 16,” Le Tissier said. “I was playing under-18 boys football and they’re basically men, so to come back into the WSL is different, but I’ve experienced the physicality of it back home and playing on bad pitches and things like that. It’s just normal for me.

“Flying over to try to get noticed and flying over just to play a game of football, people probably think you’re crazy. It’s different for me, people will have never heard of Guernsey and where I’m from. It’s so small you can walk around it. Then to come over and try to get recognised and to play women’s football was different but I loved it. My mum and dad, they’d have to take time out of work to fly over with me because, obviously, I couldn’t do that on my own.”

WU23 International Friendly - Norway v England
Le Tissier has previously represented England at under-23 level
RAGNAR SINGSAAS/THE FA VIA GETTY IMAGES

While the defender is a star name in the WSL, having been a crucial part of United’s five consecutive clean sheets at the start of the season, she has admitted the England senior set-up is something she could only dream of.

Five of her club team-mates — Mary Earps, Alessia Russo, Ella Toone, Nikita Parris and Katie Zelem — are also in the England squad, and have helped Le Tissier settle into St George’s Park, arriving on Monday morning after the 3-1 defeat by Chelsea on Sunday.

“I’m pinching myself every day, to be honest, to be training and playing with these top players at United,” Le Tissier said. “The players that are here [at England], I’m just like, ‘wow, I can’t believe I’m in the same room as you’.

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“They [her United team-mates] have all been so nice to me and making sure I know where I’m going and that I should be there at the right time. Lessi [Russo] knocking on my door this morning was nice.”

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