‘She was just a natural’ – England’s Rachel Daly stood out in junior football

England left-back Rachel Daly’s “natural” talent helped her stand out when she was still in primary school.

The 30-year-old will be aiming to help England earn their first European Championship title when they face Germany in the Euro 2022 final at Wembley on Sunday.

Daly began her career at Killinghall Nomads in Yorkshire, where Rossett School teacher Michael Sweetman first saw her ability for himself – though he had not immediately realised who he was watching.

“I was head of year seven and I did all of the transitions from primary schools, so I used to have to visit all of the kids in primary school,” Daly’s former teacher told the PA news agency.

“Because I loved football, and always wanted us to do well, I used to always go and try and scout the best players – if I found out a kid was a good player and they were coming to school, I was made up!

“I’d heard that there was this girl who was really good playing for Killinghall Nomads in Harrogate, so I went down to see her play. Sunday morning I rock up at the fields and it’s just the boys playing.

“I thought, ‘I’ve given up my Sunday morning, I’ve turned up and girls aren’t playing’. Anyway, there’s a blonde-haired boy, a striker and he’s brilliant. I’m thinking, ‘wow what a player he is, I’ll find out at the end of the game if he’s coming to Rossett’.

“Anyway in the meantime, Rach’s step-dad came over, he said, “hi Mr Sweetman, don’t worry she’s coming to Rossett’ and I went, ‘nice to meet you, but I’ve come down and she’s not playing’.

“He said, ‘what do you mean?’, I said, ‘well this is the boys playing’. He went, ‘no, that’s Rach playing up-front, that blonde-haired kid’ and I went, ‘I’m really sorry I didn’t realise – I was looking for the girls!’

“Anyway she was