Manchester United and England star Mary Earps admitted anyone who plays in goal has to be "a little bit different" after she won the Best FIFA Women's Goalkeeper award in Paris on Monday evening.
Earps enjoyed a phenomenal European Championship campaign last year, keeping four clean sheets and conceding just two goals in the entire tournament.
Her remarkable form has continued at club level with United, becoming the first goalkeeper in the Women’s Super League to reach 50 clean sheets. As an integral part of the side, she has conceded the fewest goals in the league this season as the Reds sit top of the table.
Reflecting on her journey to the top, she revealed when her passion for goalkeeping started, telling MEN Sport she may be a little mad.
“I would say that anybody that plays in goal has to be a little bit different, whether I'm mad I will let the people decide!" she said. "But I think that it's very unusual to put someone in the firing line of a football coming at any part of your body, face, knees, hands and you've got to sort of like it a little bit and be like, 'okay, cool'. I've got to deal with this in some way. I put my body on the line. That's obviously really unusual.
“I feel really strongly that goalkeeping is so fun, it's so unique. Obviously from my point of view, it's the most important position on a pitch. It's the hardest thing to do - it's so unique by nature because there's no one right way of doing things you just find a way for yourself and you see all different goalkeepers playing in the Premier League or in the WSL and they all have a completely different technique. It's not just all about scoring goals.
“So, whether I'm a bit mad, I don't know, but I think it was happenstance that I ended up in goal. I was really bored, I'll be honest, I was cartwheeling around with my dad standing by the goal and he said, 'come on, concentrate'. I said, 'I'm so bored I want to be up there in the thick of the action'.
"I was one of those kids that I wanted to just be involved in it and score because I thought that's where all the fun was. And then I saved this penalty. And my dad said to me, 'see, if one of the other girls was in goal they wouldn't have saved that' and that was it. I trained as a goalkeeper ever since - I just loved it.
“I loved diving around in the mud, I love that feeling of making a save and helping the team. So in a long-winded way, mad? Potentially, but I love goalkeeping.”
On collecting her accolade, she made sure to thank her “loved ones who picked me up off the kitchen floor a few years ago”, with special praise reserved for England boss Sarina Wiegman. “And to Sarina Wiegman, I have run out of words to say to you," she said.
“Thank you for believing in me the way you have. This is for anyone who has been in a dark place. There is light at the end of the tunnel.”
