A LOT has changed for Rachel Daly since she played in all six of England’s matches as they became European champions last summer.

Like the rest of Sarina Wiegman’s victorious squad, the Harrogate-born 31-year-old has had to get used to the increased profile and attention that goes hand-in-hand with being part of the most successful England Women’s team in history.

She has also switched continents, leaving American side Houston Dash, where she had spent six years of her career, to return to England and join Aston Villa in the WSL.

Then, perhaps most unexpectedly of all, there has been the switch of position that could prove so crucial to England’s chances of success in the forthcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

For more than a decade, Daly was a left-back who occasionally strayed into midfield. All of her appearances at the Euros came as part of the back four, but at the start of last season, she was asked to play as a centre-forward with Villa. What happened next proved something of a revelation.

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Daly scored 30 goals in all competitions for Villa last season, with her haul of 22 goals in the WSL securing her the Golden Boot as the competition’s leading scorer. Just for good measure, she also claimed five more goals while playing as a striker on the international stage, and when England begin their World Cup campaign against Haiti next month, there is every chance she will be leading the line for the Three Lions. All in all, it has been quite some 12 months.

“I’ve had a pretty good year, it’s been a good year for me,” said Daly, who started her club career with Leeds United. “I think I can put it down to my happiness and the way Carla (Ward, Aston Villa boss) has given me freedom at the club to play my own sort of game.

“The team around me has been brilliant and Sarina again at international level. I’d say it’s probably the best season I’ve had in my career.”

But given that so much of that career was spent as part of a defensive line, does she really now see herself as one of the leading centre-forwards in the world?

“That’s Sarina’s decision,” she said tactfully. “I’ll respect whatever she chooses and I’m ready to play wherever I’m needed.”

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Daly was named as a forward when England’s 23-strong squad was announced, and she finds herself competing with Alessia Russo and Bethany England for a starting spot in Australia and New Zealand after clearly appearing to benefit from last summer’s return to her home country.

Her time in the States, which began when she was offered a sports scholarship to attend a US college, was hugely successful, but the time was right for her to head back home and establish herself as a star of the WSL.

“A lot has changed for me personally since the last tournament,” she said. “Moving home, I’ve been away for ten years so I think, mentally, I’m in a way better place. I needed to be home, and playing in this league (WSL) was something I wanted to do and revisit again.

“A lot has changed for me, but I think you can tell that I’m playing with a smile on my face and enjoying my football, so long may that continue.”

Her forthcoming appearance in a World Cup finals is a far cry from her humble roots with Killinghall Nomads, the North Yorkshire club where her she spent her first three years in football.

“I joined Killinghall when I was about eight or nine,” she said. “My brother played for them, all my male friends played for them and my dad played for their men’s team as well, so it was an easy decision.

“It became clear quite early on that I was better than a lot of the boys, so they’d be jealous and would tackle me even harder, but that just toughened me up.

“My time at Killinghall definitely shaped me as a player. It helped me realise what competition was all about, and it helped make me as competitive as I am today.”