Rachel Daly’s evolution from left back to top scorer is astonishing

How many people did Rachel Daly have to finish as the Women’s Super League top scorer in September? Everyone? I do not think so.

After playing every game of last summer’s European Championship at left-back, Daly signed for Aston Villa at the start of the season and 20 goals later is on the verge of winning the golden boot.

Let me explain. Daly didn’t become a striker overnight. She played as a forward in America’s National Women’s Soccer League, but her versatility and the fact that England had prolific forwards like Ellen White meant she had to plug gaps when it came to international soccer.

At Houston Dash, Daly did extra training sessions to work on her defense so she could perform for the Lionesses when needed. But after the European Championship, Daly wanted to go back home to be closer to her family. Villa needed an attacker. It was the perfect move, but few expected it to go so well.

Villa scored just 13 goals as a team last season. With Daly in the lead, supplemented by additional sharp-witted signings such as Jordan Nobbs and Kirsty Hanson, they managed 42.

Daly’s 20 goals make her the highest scoring England player in a single WSL season. She has twice as many goals as Chelsea’s Sam Kerr and Manchester United’s Alessia Russo.

Kerr was named Footballer of the Year last week. She got twice as many votes as Daly, who was my pick and finished second. That she has a chance to win the golden boot is remarkable. Her only failure is not playing for any of the ‘big four’ clubs.

Kerr won the award last year when she broke the record for most goals scored in a WSL season with 21. Daly is one short of tying that in a team that is scoring far less. She has a high conversion rate of 75 percent. She couldn’t have had a better season.

Kerr is not an unworthy winner. She has consistently produced winning moments for Chelsea in big games and if they win the league this year it will be in large part thanks to her. Kerr said allegations on social media that she did not deserve the award set her “on fire” ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup final, where she scored the winning goal. She always knows how to react and her personality and her talent have made her a household name.

Daly does not have the same stature or commercial value as Kerr. She was a key member of the England team that won the European Championship, but not the centerpiece. Kerr is the star for club and country and will be the poster girl for this summer’s World Cup in her home country, Australia.

But there is every chance Daly could oust Russo as a starting striker for England in the current form. Sarina Wiegman now sees Daly as an attacker and has chosen to play others as left back in the last three camps. Russo was one of the ‘super subs’ at the European Championship and may have made more of an impact for England off the bench than when she started games.

Injuries to defenders could see Daly fall back to left back, but that would be a shame and Wiegman will most likely see that as a last resort.

With two games left of this season, Daly is two goals ahead of Manchester City’s Bunny Shaw – who failed to even make it into the top three in the FWA vote. Daly may have been overlooked this time around, but if she pushes Shaw to the golden boot and smashes Kerr’s goalscoring record, her performance will be impossible to ignore.

Avram Glazer was at Wembley to watch Manchester United play in their first FA Cup final, but many were asking where he and his brother Joel have been for the past five years?

It was the Glazers who disbanded the women’s team in 2005 before reluctantly re-forming eight years later, but have shown little real interest or desire to invest well at the same level as Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester City.

Glazer, who reportedly went into the dressing room after the match, sat in the stands for the biggest day in the club’s history, left a bitter taste for supporters who feel the women’s team has been neglected.

Todd Boehly was absent from Wembley as Chelsea lifted the FA Cup for a third consecutive year. Considering they lost the last final he attended (the Continental League Cup against Arsenal in March) that may not have been a bad thing.

It will be the end of an era at Lyon when long-serving president Jean-Michel Aulas leaves at the end of this season.

Aulas helped create a dynasty on the women’s side – with the club winning five Champions League finals in a row between 2016 and 2020. They were the first European club to properly commit to substantial investment and provide world-class facilities to their women’s team.

The positive, but also the problem, is that they have laid the path that others have now followed. Teams have caught up – their defeat to Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the Champions League proved that.

There is talk of a takeover by Washington Spirit majority shareholder Michele Kang and she was on hand as Lyon won their 10th Coupe de France by beating rivals Paris Saint-Germain.

Barcelona may be the next dynasty in women’s football, but we will probably never see a period of complete domination like Lyon’s.

Referees are rarely praised in women’s football, but Emily Heaslip’s performance in the FA Cup final was impressive.

She got the big calls right and correctly identified Manchester United’s Nikita Parris being fouled outside the box, rather than inside, by Chelsea’s Niamh Charles.

It was a close call, with contact going into the penalty area, but Heaslip didn’t need VAR’s help to make the right decision.

It is encouraging to see such an achievement from a young official and while there are still improvements to be made in women’s service, we should not forget to applaud good performances when we see them.