Lucy’s gone from Lyon to the Three Lions.. and now FIFA’s top player dreams of Euro glory with City
Lucy Bronze will always be grateful she plucked up the courage to pack her bags and play abroad – even at the risk of being “forgotten”.
England star Bronze enjoyed unprecedented success in her three years across the Channel with Lyon.
And the Lionesses defender, who won a hat- trick of Champions League medals with them, fears we have been too shy about exporting our best footballers.
She speaks as the winner of a football ‘Oscar’ after being voted top women’s player at the Best FIFA Football Awards this week, the first English star to win the gong.
Bronze, a two-time World Cup semi-finalist, is now back at Manchester City, where she won the third of her six league titles with three different clubs.
Reunited in City’s defence efence with England captain Steph Houghton, the Blue Moon on has some serious girl power r again.
But she admitted: “Going oing to Lyon made me a better player and a better person.
“I don’t think I would uld be where I am today if I hadn’t challenged myself to go and play in France.
“As a nation, we are e quite shy about going abroad d and showing what we can do on another stage.
“Having been through gh it myself, maybe there is a feeling that when you leave ave the country, everyone ne forgets about you.”
Bronze makes no bones es about the motives behind ind her second coming at the Etihad – a new challenge, ge, and more history.
“For an English club to win the Champions League ue for the first time would d be amazing,” she said.
“I’ve got so much history story of winning the WSL ( Women’s Super League), gue), the FA Cup and the League ague Cup, but I don’t think there would be a better feeling ng at club level than helping City to win the Champions ons League.
“‘It would be a big moment oall for English football if we can get to the final, l, lift that trophy and take e the game in this country y to another level.”
At international level, the next level is where England could
‘I don’t think I would be where I am today if I hadn’t challenged myself to go and play in France’
be heading if new ne Lionesses manager Sarina Sarin Wiegman – who won the FIFA award for best coach – lives up to her achievements. achievemen Wiegman will wil take over from Phil Neville as Lionesses manager next year y with a ringing endorsement from Bronze. She said: “When the FA were talking about Phil’s successor, as soon as I heard her name mentioned it was like, ‘Bang – that’s the one we want.’
“We keep getting to semif inals at the biggest tournaments, so we know we are a good team.
“But we need that little bit extra to get to the next step.
“Coming up we’ve got a Euros on home soil and a World Cup straight after it, and we are getting a manager who won the Euros at home and got to a World Cup final.
“That’s exciting in itself, and now she has been named the best coach in the world there’s nobody better out there we could have got to take England to the next level.”