Rachel Maltby: The Aston Villa teenager whose WSL breakthrough could solve one of the Lionesses' biggest problems

Born in Northamptonshire, Maltby started playing football at under-six level with the local boys’ team at Long Buckby. She’d briefly stop, focusing on gymnastics and swimming for a few years, before rejoining at the under-nines stage and enjoying a steady rise in the local area. She soon became involved in the Northamptonshire Advanced Coaching Centre, which would lead to her being integrated into the England set-up and going on her first youth national team camp at U16 level. It was around the same time that her path to Aston Villa unfolded.

Playing for a Rushden & Diamonds boys’ team one Saturday, Villa’s head scout for the men’s side was in attendance and quickly brought Maltby to the attention of the women’s team. “I wasn't necessarily pushing to get into any academy,” the teenager recalls, speaking to GOAL. “I hadn't been to any trials because I was quite happy with where the boys' game was taking me. But then when it happened organically, it was quite nice and that kind of felt a bit natural then, like natural timing for me to then transfer into the girls’ game.”

At that point, Maltby was more often a winger or a striker, but she’d transition into a left-back under the guidance of Natalie Henderson, England’s U17s coach at the time. She’s made a real splash in the position, too, playing an important part in the Young Lionesses’ run to the final of the U17 Euros and semi-finals of the U17 World Cup last year, before helping England secure a spot at next year’s U20 World Cup via the U19 Euros this past summer.

“The memories and experiences that I've gained are just incredible,” Maltby says, reflecting on those major tournaments. “I think that will stay with me and everyone else throughout our whole career and it will definitely benefit us moving forward.”

It’s on the left side of defence, albeit in the slightly tweaked role of a wing-back, that Maltby has broken into the Villa first team, too. After training with the seniors here and there beforehand, she made a matchday squad for the first time back in March, just a few days before her 18th birthday, and would make her senior debut the following month when Villa secured an incredible 5-2 win over Arsenal, just a few weeks before the Gunners beat Barcelona to be crowned champions of Europe.

Natalia Arroyo, who took over at Villa in January, has a track record of trusting in young players and she has only enhanced that reputation in England, with recent Lionesses debutante Kendall another talented prospect that she has put real faith in, alongside Maltby.

“She takes the time to understand you as a person,” Maltby explains, asked what makes Arroyo so good at developing young talent. “I usually go through clips with another member of staff, after games, after training, and she takes the time to want to be within [those sessions] or wants to know what we go through. She takes the time to speak to us and kind of understand us a little bit more as people, off the pitch and on the pitch, and just understand what makes us tick, I guess, which definitely helps us grow.”

Maltby built on that foundation in the summer, enjoying her first full pre-season with the Villa first team, and has now become a regular starter at left wing-back this season. When one considers that it’s not long since she made the switch to the role, how she is performing is made all the more impressive.

“Last season, when I wasn't playing as much, I would watch back the games and I'd analyse Maz Pacheco or Paula Tomas, whoever was playing in my position, and watch what they would do and almost analyse their performance,” Maltby recalls, asked about the adaptation. “I'd still have those one-to-one clips, but it wouldn't necessarily be about me directly, but about people in my position.

“I think the fact that I've played left-back and left winger, it was kind of easier for me to combine the two. Obviously, there are still things that I need to work on and understand about the position, but it definitely helps that I already have experience as both winger and full-back. There's been challenges at times but I've definitely enjoyed it.”

That commitment to learning and improving is something that clearly stands out about Maltby. Raised by parents who weren’t particularly into football, she admits she didn’t watch the sport much growing up, but that’s changed a lot in recent times and is feeding into a growing game intelligence that is evident when the teenager takes to the field.

It’s not the only strength in Maltby’s psychological makeup, either. As she takes her first steps in the senior game, the defender also has great perspective in what she admits is a mentally “challenging” period.

“There's lots of ups and downs because, obviously, you're constantly trying to learn from the senior players and you're not expected to necessarily play 10 out of 10 all the time,” she explains. “When you are constantly learning and you might be making a couple more mistakes than you want, it's quite hard to keep that confidence. But I also think the support from the coaches and the players is quite beneficial to help me keep that confidence and continue to play like how I know I can.”

As for her physical capabilities, Maltby has an impressive final product for young talent and her previous experiences as a more attacking player shine through in her positioning in that final third. Combine that with her great athleticism, which allows her to get up and down the pitch with ease, and it’s clear why Arroyo sees her as a good fit for the wing-back role.

Given she only moved into a left-back role quite recently, and has only been playing as a wing-back for a few months now, it’s understandable that Maltby is still getting to grips with some of the defensive demands placed upon her. As she plays more and has more film to watch and analyse, she’s only going to have a greater understanding of, and impact in, the position.

Most of what the 18-year-old would like to improve is centred around that inexperience, really, which is no surprise for a teenager in their first full season in senior football. She picks out “some of the tactical elements” as something she has “less experience with” and is also keen to continue to take strides to close the “physicality difference”, having just come into the senior game from youth football. “It’s different how the women use their bodies in the WSL, compared to what I was used to in the U21s,” she adds.

That said, Maltby does have more physicality than most young prospects when they initially come to the first-team game, having played boys’ football up until her move to Villa at U16 level. Added to her athleticism and reading of the game, that has allowed her to hold her own in many of those individual battles already, which is yet another very encouraging aspect of her first steps in the English top-flight.

It’s hard to make an effective direct comparison between Maltby and another player because there are actually not many teams in the women’s game that play with wing-backs. However, the 18-year-old does have shades of Kerstin Casparij, the Manchester City right-back, in her game, specifically in her positional awareness and the efficiency with which she covers ground up and down her flank.

That comes from that aforementioned mixture of good reading of the game and great athleticism, allowing Maltby to be where she needs to be most of the time while also popping up unexpectedly in big moments, whether it is with a big late block in a central position in her own box or a darting run into the opposition’s area that allows her to attack a cross.

Of course, there are differences between the two. Casparij, for example, is much more influential in City’s play than Maltby is in Villa’s. Yet, how the two teams play and that the two players are actually deployed in different positions are noteworthy factors in that sense. It’ll be interesting to see if Maltby does develop into the sort of defender who has a big role in her team’s possession as she continues to grow. She certainly has the composure and accuracy on the ball to get there.

Though clearly an exciting prospect, we’re still talking about a player, in Maltby, who has just 11 senior games under her belt at this point. The teenager's next steps are all about continuing to accumulate game time and experience, and the fact those opportunities are not just being handed to her for nothing is going to be beneficial in the long-term, too. Maltby is competing with Noelle Maritz for a place and will be learning plenty from both that challenge and the veteran Switzerland international herself.

With England, Maltby continues to make encouraging progress, too. A lot is made of how well-connected the national team pathway is and rightly so, because players are steadily moving up through the ranks and getting the opportunities to take on new challenges. After a great 2024 with the U17s, Maltby has spent most of this year with the U19s and is now heading off on camp with the U20s. She’s only one step away from the U23s, from which Wiegman has plucked a lot of talent for her Lionesses squad in recent times.

“It is cool,” Maltby responds, asked how it feels to know that pathway is connected and that she is likely on the radar of the England senior staff. “It’s quite surreal to think about. Ultimately, when you're playing, you don't necessarily think about that, but it's nice to know that things do happen in the background and those conversations and things are happening, because then it really does give hope for all of us younger players that we will get a chance.

“My dream has always been to play for the Lionesses and be one of those top players in the WSL. Seeing the senior squad and seeing the players that they're bringing in definitely does motivate you to keep pushing for that.”

There’s still a long way to go and a lot of work to do, especially for a player so new to the position they are playing in. But Maltby is doing everything right so far to get to those dreams. Who knows, with Hinds and Denton adding more natural options to Wiegman’s current Lionesses squad, and Maltby progressing nicely further down the pathway, perhaps left-back won’t be an issue for England forever.