England skipper Leah Williamson has revealed how she received tough love from former Arsenal teammate and BBC pundit Alex Scott when coming through the ranks as a young pro.
WIlliamson, 25, led the Lionesses to European Championship glory in the summer and recently made a successful return to the Arsenal defence after a month out with a foot injury. The Gunners won 4-1 at Aston Villa last weekend to stay firmly amongst the leading contenders for the WSL title, three points behind Chelsea with a game in hand.
This week, the England captain reflected on her career journey so far in an interview with Sky Sports' Inside the WSL programme. When talking about her early years at the Gunners, Williamson spoke of how senior pros in the side helped her development.
"I had Alex (Scott) next to me in the dressing room," Williamson told Sky Sports. "She took me under her wing on both a performance and a personal level.
"I joke with her now that she was the harshest player on me, but she was!
"She didn't really ask me to do things nicely. She would say 'Leah, get up quicker', it was that sort of thing. Basically it was telling me 'this is the standard that we play by, either catch-up quick or you are going to get left behind."
Scott, who won 19 major honours during a trophy-laden spell at Arsenal, responded in light-hearted fashion via Twitter. She tweeted the clip from the interview whilst adding, "Nothing but love from day one till now & always Leah Williamson."
Williamson has spent her entire domestic career at Arsenal since making her senior debut back in 2014. During that season Scott was made club captain, after returning from America for a third spell at Arsenal two years earlier.
Together the pair helped Arsenal to two FA Cup wins in 2014 and 2016 and a WSL cup in 2015 before Scott retired a the end of the 2017-18 season. Williamson recently made her 200th appearance for the Gunners in the 1-0 win over Everton, a hugely impressive achievement considering she is still only 25.
After reaching the milestone Williamson said she felt like she had been at the club forever.
"That means everything to me," she said after the Everton win. "I'm very proud to get to 200 appearances, but I'm very grateful as well.
"Thinking about it, I'm 25 years old and I've been out (injured) for the accumulation of what feels like three years as well. It feels like I've been here forever, but for sure 200 appearances is a really nice milestone to get to."
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