‘She’s a winner’ – Ella Toone names legendary Lionesses that she looks up to as Man Utd & England star reveals what makes her ‘proper moody’

The Manchester United playmaker has become a role model in her own right, with the 25-year-old a European Championship winner that boasts a useful habit of scoring big goals for club and country at Wembley Stadium.

While Toone has forged her own superstar standing, she still looks to those around her for guidance when it comes to reaching the very top of the women’s game. Fortunately for her, dressing rooms have been shared with some iconic figures.

Toone was appearing on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, presented by Qatar Airways, and said of those that she looks up to: “I think for me, it's people like Lucy Bronze. She's won so much. She's won Champions League. She's been to so many major tournaments and she's a winner. She makes sure that every time she steps out onto the pitch, she drags everyone with her.

“And on the other hand, you've got the likes of Jill Scott, who's, you know, just an unbelievable person and someone that you need in the changing room, someone who loves a bit of a joke. But when they step out onto the pitch, they make sure they give 100%. And I think in a changing room, you've got to have so many different personalities for it all to click, because if you've got people who are the same, it's a clash….I think we had it right in the Euros, the types of people that we had in the changing room.”

Toone likes to have a laugh and a joke herself, saying that team-mates would consider her to be “funny”, but added on a “competitive” streak that makes it difficult for her to accept defeat – even in training: “Yeah, bad. Don't speak to me after training if I lose. Proper moody in training if something doesn't go right. So it's that balance of, yeah, I'm a bit of a joker and I love a laugh and love that team togetherness. But as soon as I step over the white line, I want to win. So I think that my team-mates know that.

“I think I've got that balance right at the minute. So it's kind of nice to be known as someone who likes to laugh, but also someone who makes sure that they want to win and give 100%.”

Toone opened the scoring for United in their latest outing – a 3-0 win over Brighton – and has helped them to second place in the WSL table. She is also counting down the days to the Lionesses Euros titles defence this summer.

Listen to the full Rio Meets Ella Toone interview on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.