Ellen White can change the way women’s football is thought about, Kelly Smith claims

A record-breaking Euro 2022 from Ellen White would ignite a paradigm shift in the perception of women’s football, says former England star Kelly Smith.

White can match Wayne Rooney’s 53-goal England record as early as Wednesday if she nets in the their quarter-final clash with Spain.

The Manchester City striker surpassed Smith’s 46-goal tally in November to become the Lionesses’ all-time top scorer and edged ever closer to Rooney’s total with a brace in England’s 8-0 group stage rout of Norway.

While White herself prefers to redirect attention to her Group A-topping squad’s collective efforts, Smith, who won 117 caps for England, was more than willing to wax lyrical about the self-effacing Lionesses lynchpin.

She said: “When Ellen beat my record I called her up the next day to congratulate her because I know how hard she works. I played with her, I know her as a person, she’s very humble and down-to-earth.

“She’s really worked and evolved our game over the last few years and she fully deserves the accolades. If she can reach Wayne Rooney’s record that is just phenomenal, because Wayne Rooney has been one of the best players to play in an England shirt.

“If she can surpass that and put her name above him it just speaks volumes for where the women’s game is at this moment in time and has come over the years.

“To have a female footballer above Wayne Rooney will draw a lot of eyes to it because of the levels he reached for England, his class, his technique and his goal-scoring ability.”

Two more goals for White would see her top either national team in 11-a-side football, though Smith’s fellow National Football Museum Hall of Fame inductee David Clarke netted 128 for England’s five-a-side blind football squad.

Smith, who