How Lionesses Alessia Russo became England’s ‘million pound’ golden girl but was left blushing after meeting famous fan

AT 11, Alessia Russo was tipped as a future England star by goalscoring great Kelly Smith – and now, 13 years later, she really is making the Lionesses roar.

The World Cup forward, who scored the winning goal against Colombia on Saturday to take England into the semi-finals, has been dubbed the “golden girl” of the Women’s Super League.

The 24-year-old had already cemented her place in the nation’s hearts with a spectacular backheel goal for England in last year’s Euros semi-final against Sweden which was named the Goal of the Tournament.

Now, a month after her transfer to Arsenal from Manchester United, Alessia — known to her family as Lessi — is lighting up the World Cup too.

And she’s going for gold as well as goals.

Factoring in commercial deals with such brands as Adidas, Gucci, PlayStation and Beats by Dre, she is now thought be the first WSL player to earn more than £1million a year.

With celeb fans such as David Beckham — and his daughter Harper — she is already such a national treasure that her boots have been displayed in the Tower of London.

Colin Whitfield, a former coach at Bearsted FC in Kent, where she began her footie career, told The Sun she is inspiring a new generation.

He said: “The girls in particular all want to be the next Alessia Russo. She has inspired lots of people, not just at Bearsted.

“There’s a real sense of excitement off the back of her success. I can’t see it ever disappearing.”

The Kent-born striker’s rise to the top was on the cards from a young age.

Coming from Sicilian stock, Alessia grew up in Maidstone in a sporting family — policeman dad Mario played for Met Police FC and coached local kids, brother Giorgio played for non-league team Ramsgate and younger brother Luca represented England in under-20s track and field events.

Mum Carol recently recalled Alessia as a “cute three-year-old dancing in a tutu” but added that she had been desperate to ditch ballet because she wanted to go to football training with her dad and brothers.

Coach Mario revealed he had got “strange looks” from other parents when he moved his daughter from the girls’ to the boys’ team after spotting her potential.

At St Simon Stock Catholic School in Maidstone, Alessia’s star quality was clear, and former head teacher John Malone and PE teacher Claire Brown recall she was a “driven” pupil who “already had the mindset of a great sporting star”.

John told Good Morning Britain: “She played for the girls’ team but also, up to a certain age, girls can play for the boys’ team.

“Her reputation was out there in the community. So PE departments from other schools would be calling us on the match day to say, ‘Is that girl playing for you this evening?’.

“If the answer was yes, they knew that they were going to lose.”

From the age of eight, Alessia trained at Charlton Athletic’s academy, where in 2006 she was led on to the pitch as a mascot by Casey Stoney, who would later become her boss at Manchester United.

Offered a contract by Chelsea just as she was considering university, she opted to take a soccer scholarship at the University of North Carolina, where her brother Luca was already studying on an athletic scholarship.

Her first-year roommate was fellow England player Lotte Wubben-Moy.

Sporting star

Her university coach Anson Dorrance — who also trained Lioness Lucy Bronze — told a newspaper: “Players usually slow down in shooting practice to achieve more accuracy.

“But Alessia never did that, she always played the game. She always went 100mph to try and score a goal, even in an exercise. Russo trained ruthlessly to become the player she is and she’s going to keep getting better.

“So even to this day I use examples of my great players, Alessia certainly being one of them, to help my current players become elite.”

Always a star of the England youth teams, once scoring five goals in one match against Croatia aged 17, she was called up to the senior squad in February 2020.

Seven months later, on her return from the States, the life-long Manchester United supporter was snapped up by the Red Devils.

Last month, when she left after three years to join Arsenal, she reflected on how it had always been her dream to play at Old Trafford.

She said: “If I ever picture myself as a little girl, I’m wearing a United shirt with a ball glued to my feet. If someone told that little girl she’d represent the club one day, create so many memories and score at Old Trafford, I can’t imagine how she’d contain the excitement.”

Alessia has also revealed her health struggles, telling Women’s Health magazine: “In lockdown, it was tough. I was training on my own, I was home and I lost quite a bit of weight.

“Then I signed for Man United soon after lockdown and within about six weeks, I completely tore my hamstring, which I could only relate back to losing a lot of weight because I’ve never had a muscle injury before.

“[My diet] was high in protein but I was sacrificing all the carbs and the fats. I used to track everything.

“I was at a low point with my food and with my weight. I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t robust. I thought I looked great but really, on the football pitch, I wasn’t strong enough to compete.”

While at United, Alessia went on to become United’s top scorer, earning an estimated £35,000 to £45,000 a year, rising to more than £60,000 in her third year, as well as bonuses for goals and winning matches, placing her among the WSL’s highest earners.

Her income was boosted by her call-up to the Lionesses, with each player paid £2,000 per game for an average of 11 a year.

Winning the 2022 European Championship brought the elite players into a whole new ball park for earnings, with each of the Lionesses receiving a £50,000 bonus.

They were also paid £430 a day to take part, for a total of 37 days, meaning a pay cheque of £15,910.

Along with the Arnold Clark Cup and the Finalissima tournament, each player banked around £88,000, claims sport website The Athletic.

With Euros glory still fresh in fans’ minds, Alessia was already hot property when she joined Arsenal, who signed her on a free transfer after being knocked back with a world-record bid, estimated to be around £500,000, in January.

Alessia, who has 567,000 followers on Instagram, can expect to cash in on her fame with commercial deals worth six figures.

This month, boot sponsor Adidas selected her as one of five players to promote its Champion The Girls initiative, aimed at preventing teenage girls from dropping out of sport, and she appeared alongside David Beckham in a campaign for the brand as well as modelling its Gucci collaboration range.

After her spectacular Euros goal against Sweden, Adidas displayed her green boots among the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London, declaring her a “national treasure”.

Her advertising earnings are thought to be between £300,000 and £500,000 a year and estimates suggest Alessia earned almost £4,000 from sponsored Instagram posts in the first quarter of 2023, bettered only by England team-mates Lucy Bronze, Beth Mead and captain Leah Williamson.

Her earnings from social media are expected to have doubled in the run-up to the World Cup.

PR expert Nick Ede said: “Alessia Russo is a breakout star and with her athletic good looks she can command millions this year.

“She’s already an ambassador for numerous brands and I can see her expanding this into more luxury and beauty territories.”

Other schools would call us to ask if she was playing …and if the answer was yes they knew they were going to lose.

Former teacher John Malone

With their sights on the World Cup, the Lionesses stand to earn even more.

Fifa has guaranteed that every player competing in the tournament will be paid at least £23,500, with every winning player receiving at least £213,000.

Despite Alessia’s success, many in the world of football praise her lack of arrogance.

Man United’s Leah Galton said: “She works extremely hard and she’s one of the nicest people off the pitch I think I’ve ever met.”

David Beckham and 12-year-old daughter Harper enjoyed a chat with Alessia, hosted by Adidas, before England’s World Cup game against Haiti last month.

Afterwards Alessia said: “He’s been one of my idols ever since I was a little girl.

“That’s probably one of my biggest highlights, having a normal conversation with someone you used to watch on the world stage when you were younger.

“It was amazing and he was really nice, a bit of a pinch-me moment in terms of what women’s sport is doing. It’s special to hear that Harper is a huge fan.

“He said we should never lose sight of what we are doing as a team, which was really cool because we’re all in the moment in terms of all we see and competing every day on the pitch. The impact you have away from that is what’s really special to hear.”

But Alessia’s biggest fans are still her devoted family, and earlier this month, as she left for the World Cup in Oz, mum Carol posted an emotional tribute to “Lessi”.

She said: “The day is finally here, I can’t believe you’re off to your first senior World Cup.

“How exciting. It only seems like yesterday you were that cute little three-year-old, dancing around in your tutu but desperate to give it all up so you could join football coaching with Daddy and play football with Luca and Giorgio.

“We had no idea, did we, that it would lead to all this?

“You’re living your dream and doing what you love, and shining like our little superstar.”

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk