Eniola Aluko

From a young age in England I felt technical skills were coached out of me. I remember when I was 15 doing a rainbow flick over a player's head in training and the coach telling me off and shouting: 'This is not the Eni show.' That discouraged me from expressing myself individually with the ball in that team again.

A big player coming in can change the dynamics of the dressing room, upset the rhythm of the team and end up doing more harm than good.

It is dangerous to sit on your laurels, but a lot of the time you only have to add one or two people to the fringes of a winning team to improve it.

There is a risk women's football becomes the most popular spectator sport that fans tune into every four years but are not interested in parting with their money to watch the same players on their doorstep.

This is something that baffles me about managers: if you know the formation that you will revert to if you are in trouble, why not start with it?

I feel that sometimes managers think that, if they can come up with a tactic that leads to success in a major game, they can get all the plaudits.

I had to deal with casual sexism while working as a pundit for ITV during the World Cup in Russia.

I think the quicker we tell young girls who dream of playing professionally that they should believe in themselves, the more prepared they will be for the world of pro sport.

When I was a young girl I had to deal with people calling me weird and strange because I spent so much time around boys playing football.

In a world overloaded with information and content, there is simply no excuse for fans to be ill-informed about women's football.

If, say, a striker knows that scoring 30 goals in a season will lead to them winning a prestigious award then they will try that little bit harder because, regardless of what players may say, individual recognition on the world stage is important.

Marta is one of my favourite players, and one of the best players I've had the privilege of coming up against, so I say this with the greatest respect: there are other players who were in a much stronger position to be named the best female player of 2018.

Off the pitch I've always believed it is healthy to switch off from football and have completely different interests too.

Sometimes keeping a squad together can improve spirit and with it performances.

Rita Guarino is one of the best technical coaches I have had in my career - often she demonstrates a specific technique and shows the players up!

Champions League football is one of the primary reasons I joined Juventus so I am determined to help the team succeed in the competition.

It's great being part of Juventus. As expected, there's a real family feel to the club, alongside a big desire to win as often as possible.

The big players historically hold a lot of influence at Chelsea and while I would never doubt their attempts to win matches for the club, their levels undoubtedly change depending on how they feel about a manager at the time. They're either having him or they're not, and once they're not it spells borrowed time for the guy in charge.

Football is full of different characters but there are perhaps none who have a split personality quite like Jose Mourinho, as I can testify from personal experience.

We can be tackled but referees are there to police dangerous challenges. Forwards are protected by the laws of the game and the way it's played, while defenders and midfielders have to throw themselves about a bit more.

As a forward it is always a bit easier to avoid the kind of challenges that can cause impact injuries.

When I considered PSG before I signed for Juventus one thing that put me off was wondering what the point is of coming second every year.

Italian sides will find it hard to attract the world's top players while there is a salary cap.

There is still this perception in football about whether people are 'English through and through.' Essentially there is not any such thing without going into a whole discussion on genetics and bloodlines of each player.

It can be difficult for players who are perceived to have turned their backs on England, as Wilfried Zaha has found out after deciding to play for Ivory Coast.

You can always go to uni later on in life. There's no set way. If you are at uni, work hard. Strive for your best.

As a forward, when you have not scored for a while the desire to score gets stronger and stronger and ultimately that can work against you because you are trying too hard to do what comes naturally.

An opportunity to play for your country is never senseless and especially when the games are competitive.

As I can testify, living in a foreign country takes you way out of your comfort zone. It's the little things, like ordering food in a different language, buying petrol or learning to drive on the other side of the road, but they all add up to making you a more rounded, educated person.

Being able to put the ball in the back of the net is so important at the highest level and could be the difference between reaching the semi-finals and actually winning the World Cup.

For all his tactical genius Guardiola is also a manager who can be patient and loyal, who backs players to come out of bad patches and hit golden patches.

If you drop a player when his form dips, sometimes it never quite comes back.

Perception is a big thing in football and people need to be more careful about how they choose to perceive young players in the first instance.

People have been very quick to judge young black players on their lifestyles and then when they go on to win the World Cup, to take league titles or score goals they're all of a sudden changed men. They haven't changed, people are just choosing to see them in a different way.

If a young player feels comfortable in a team then they will flourish and be who they want to be. It's less about patronising them and more about trusting them.

I always try to talk to my younger teammates in the same way I would do with my older ones and you can see in their eyes how much showing them some respect means.

Coaches can sometimes mollycoddle players too much - if they are good enough, then they are old enough.

When you make a young player feel young, it doesn't necessarily help them - they often want to be treated like everyone else. If you respect their talent, then that can give them the confidence to express themselves.

I struggle to understand why many in football get so upset about dual nationality.

I really enjoyed my degree. But there's so many people I went to uni with that didn't.

If you're at uni just because your parents have said so... There's a lot of success stories of people who have dropped out.

You've got to find a sweet spot where you skill meets your passion, meets your job.

There are a lot of football clubs that are fantastic football clubs but how they treat footballers is another story.

Juventus offered me the opportunity to sign in 2017 and I turned it down. I just didn't feel the timing was right.

All over the world people know Juventus as a club affiliated with legends and success and the project with the women's side is very ambitious.

I'm absolutely loving Turin's old, historical-city vibe, with the narrow, cobbled streets.

My mum's an amazing woman, a huge part of my life. She's very entrepreneurial, owns a very successful business. I take a lot of inspiration from that. That has as much impact on my sport as being athletic does.

I take the sporting genes from my dad.

I really liked English literature, a subject I did really well at.

It's important for a player to leave on the right note. Even if you're not happy to be going, or your relationships at your old club have turned sour, it is always best to be respectful. Thank the club and its fans for their support and the opportunity they gave you and leave with head held high.