Ella Toone targeting UWCL qualification & England starting place

Ella Toone desires to attain Champions League qualification with Manchester United and set up herself as an England starter in what guarantees to be an enormous season for the rising star.

Already probably the greatest gamers within the WSL after a 2021/22 marketing campaign that noticed her step into a number one function for a United facet in transition, Toone turned a family identify in the summertime because of her game-changing performances off the bench at Euro 2022.

Having collectively led the WSL in assists final season, Toone scored essential England targets within the Euro quarter-final and last en-route to England’s historic triumph.

But with United once more falling brief of their hunt for Champions League soccer and a World Cup on the horizon for England, Toone has clear targets that she desires to attain.

“My focus is this season and that’s with Manchester United and England. I just want to keep improving as a player and a person, get more goals and assists under my belt for the club and help us achieve a Champions League spot,” she stated.

“For England, it’s about keep pushing myself, hopefully try and get a place in that starting XI. I’ve always said it, the main thing is trying to keep improving every single day.”

On each fronts, she has already made an excellent begin. United have simply hammered Reading 4-0 on the opening weekend of the WSL season, whereas Toone began twice for England within the last two World Cup qualifiers earlier this month – the primary Lionesses matches since Euro 2022.

Ultimately, Toone is discovering the steadiness between coping with the strain that she places on herself to attain issues, but additionally making certain that she nonetheless enjoys herself within the second – one thing she believes in the end makes her play higher.

“I feel pressure from myself. I don’t feel pressure from other people,” the 23-year-old defined.

“I’ve got good people around me and people just want us to do well and, for me, just to go out there and enjoy it. But I’m really hard on myself as a person and so I want to be 100% all the time and do everything right. The only pressure sometimes I feel is the one that I’ve put on myself.

“My advice to my younger self would be to make sure that I enjoy it. I think growing up I did put pressure on myself and didn’t enjoy it as much as I should and I know now that when I enjoy it, I play better. And also just to be confident and believe in yourself.

“I like to say that I’m a hardworking player who just wants to be brave and get on the ball, play with that bit of freedom, find pockets of space to make something happen, whether it’s a goal or assist. I want to say that I play exciting football. I play my best football when I’m enjoying it so the people around me always help me when I step out onto the pitch.

“As I’ve grown older, the people who inspire me are my family and everything I do now is to repay them for everything they sacrificed for me.”

Ella Toone is a model ambassador for WOW HYDRATE and was talking to two-time Olympic gold medallist Victoria Pendleton in Manchester.

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