‘No-one cares what I’m doing’ – Arsenal & Lionesses captain Leah Williamson lifts the lid on ACL injury nightmare & how learning to play the piano has kept her busy

The Lionesses star, who skippered her country to European Championship glory in 2022, is six months into what is expected to be a nine-month rehabilitation programme. Having suffered an ACL injury in April – which dashed her 2023 World Cup dreams – Williamson admits to having found it tough stepping out of the limelight.

The 26-year-old defender has told BBC Sport: “My life has turned from having the best job in the world to having to go and do something every single day that I don't want to do. Everyone thinks about injury as a thing that takes away your physical ability. Everyone will talk about the fact that I missed the World Cup or these real tangible things that come along with it. But it's not even like I'm impartial. I actively don't want to be in this situation. It's not the easiest journey.”

Williamson added: “When you're a professional athlete and you have that stimulus all the time, you have that pressure all the time. All of a sudden no-one really cares what I'm doing. And there's no pressure on me to do anything at any point in my day. Everything's at my own pace. Everything's on my own terms.”

As someone that prides herself on work rate and chasing down targets, Williamson has tried to keep herself busy by picking up new skills – with the Gunners star set to perform with the BBC Concert Orchestra after learning to play the piano. She added on that challenge: “I said I wanted to do this because I wanted to put myself in a situation that was just really high-pressure and kind of provoke those emotions before I make my return to football. This has been the hardest time of my rehab. I got to a bit of a stale place in terms of not just working so hard and not really seeing that many rewards in terms of obviously I'm still far away from the pitch, so it's given me a distraction.”

Williamson is hoping to be back in action before the 2023-24 WSL campaign comes to a close, with Arsenal chasing down title glory, but she will not have international tournament action to look forward to in 2024 as Team GB have failed to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris.