It may be October, but for Beth Mead this feels like Christmas.
After over 300 days out with a knee injury, Mead is back playing for Arsenal and doing what she loves.
The forward marked her return in style on Sunday, setting up an injury-time winner as the Gunners beat Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium, and days later she is still riding high.
“It was the best feeling ever,” Mead tells Standard Sport. “It was like Christmas.
"You have some goals that you hit during your rehab and to get back on the pitch, and be around your team-mates again, it was what you really think about when starting.”
The road to that moment was long and painful. Mead ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in November of last year when she was in the form of her life.
The 28-year-old had just helped England go all the way at Euro 2022, winning both the Golden Boot and player of the tournament, and had come second in the Ballon d’Or Feminin.
Suddenly, after being on such a high, Mead was at rock bottom. But she insists the tough road back has only made her stronger.
“My injury came at a horrible time,” she says. “Personally and physically I have been through a lot in my life recently, so it has been a tough process.
“But I have come out the other side. I wouldn’t say I am the strongest person in the world, but I am surprised at how strong I have been and how much I pushed myself throughout this journey.
“It’s a tough road, it’s a rollercoaster injury. Basically, you start off learning to walk again. It isn’t always smooth sailing, to say the least, and it is a long mental and physical injury.
“It’s horrible. You get the surgery and then five months later you are allowed to start running. It’s crazy - five months without being on a football pitch.
“Mentally when the team goes out for training and you’re still stuck in the gym, then they come back in and you’re still stuck in the gym, it’s tough. It is really, really tough.”
Mead has praised her team-mates for helping her get through it. Her Arsenal team-mate and partner, Vivianne Miedema, suffered the same injury a month later.
England captain Leah Williamson and Laura Wienroither were also struck down towards the end of the season too, with the quartet supporting each other as they were all in the same boat.
“Leah bought a karaoke machine for my birthday,” says Mead. “I think the day we got it, me and Kim Little were singing a Backstreet Boys number. We have kept it in the physio room since.
“Little wins and enjoying moments with people is what gets you through, and what keeps you motivated to keep going and pushing on after a tough day. If you are having a bad day, these are the moments and the people you need around you."
Mead’s time out was made even harder by the death of her mother, June, in January following a battle with ovarian cancer.
Football had always been Mead’s release during tough times, but with her injury that was taken away.
“It was a really difficult period in my life,” she says. “I think anyone losing any parent is pretty difficult, but when I couldn’t escape with something I love on the side it made it even worse.
“It was a hard, hard time, but my friends, my family have been pretty incredible to keep me afloat during that time.
“They were there, they supported me. I had bad days, I had good days, I had so-so days and my friends and family were there through them. Sometimes that is just what you need, a good support system around you.”
Despite making a first appearance since her injury, Mead’s journey back to full fitness is not over yet. She was eager to be named in the England squad on Tuesday for Nations League games against Belgium later this month, but Lionesses head coach Sarina Wiegman feels she is not yet ready.
“It was a good chat [with Wiegman],” says Mead. “I think it would be nice to get the chance to go away, but at the same time I just need to keep building up [my fitness].
“I am champing on the bit and, of course, I want to be there. I think Sarina would expect nothing else from me.”
Mead is hungry to get back playing for England with the possibility of the Olympics next summer on the horizon, but she is looking beyond that too.
The forward is aware of her ability to leave a legacy for those that follow her and it is why she has been working as an ambassador for McDonald’s to help them lay on over 30,000 hours of free football for children this autumn.
“It’s incredible,” she says. “I am kind of jealous, I didn’t have anything like this when I was growing up.”
Beth Mead is an ambassador for McDonald’s Fun Football - the UK’s largest grassroots participation programme for 5–11-year-olds. Sign up now for your nearest FREE session at mcdonalds.co.uk/football
