LISTEN: Le Tissier 'so happy' to link up with Lionesses
It was a ‘pinch me’ moment for Maya Le Tissier yesterday as she met up with the England Lionesses for the first time.
As one of the two newcomers in the squad, alongside her good friend Katie Robinson from Brighton & Hove Albion, Guernsey’s own Manchester United defender was up in front of the national media at St George’s Park before the team jetted off to Spain for their upcoming international friendlies against Japan and Norway.
‘Unbelievable, I’m so happy to be here,’ said Le Tissier, who revealed how England manager Sarina Wiegman told her the good news.
‘I wasn’t really expecting it, it’s a bit of a crazy one. I was hoping to meet up with the [under] 23s and then Sarina rang me.
Listen: MailOnline football writer Kathryn Batte joined this week's GP Football Podcast to reflect on Le Tissier's first England call-up
‘I was in the gym at United and didn’t have my phone on me. Marc [Skinner, the Manchester United head coach] comes in the gym, and he’s never in the gym, and in his normal clothes as well. I’m thinking “what is going on here?”
‘We are obviously preparing for the big game yesterday so I thought “Oh God, am I getting dropped or something?”.
‘He comes in and pulls me out and says “Sarina would like to call you up for the seniors. Here’s the phone”. It was pretty crazy, to be fair, but it was a nice moment for me.’
In that big game, Manchester United conceded their first goals of the Women’s Super League season as their winning start came to an end at the hands of champions Chelsea, who won 3-1 in front of a record crowd at Leigh Sport Village.
The result saw United drop from first to third in the WSL table.
However, that result has done little to dampen Le Tissier’s spirits as she joins up with the European Championship-winning national side.
‘It was very special to watch [the Euros] and I thought, hopefully one day that could be me,’ she said.
‘But it’s a great team there and it’ll be hard to get into the team, but it’s something that I’ll work towards.
‘The players that are here, I’m just like, “wow, I can’t believe I’m in the same room as you”.'
