Alyssa Thompson is no stranger to the limelight. Despite being only 21, her undeniable natural talent and eye\u2011catching career have propelled her into the headlines ever since her hometown club, Angel City, made her the first pick in the 2023 National Women\u2019s Soccer League (NWSL) draft.<\/p>\n
The past few months, however, have provided the USA international with a different challenge altogether. A high-profile deadline day move<\/a> to the English champions, Chelsea, in September meant leaving her family and the comforts of Los Angeles and testing herself overseas.<\/p>\n \u201cSince I was little, I have looked up to clubs like Chelsea and Barcelona,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel like they are some of the biggest teams in the world. I\u2019ve always wanted to eventually play in Europe and play on a team like Chelsea so when I got the opportunity, I couldn\u2019t say no.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all want to win but especially here at Chelsea, there\u2019s a standard of winning already. I feel like it\u2019s kind of similar to the US team so it\u2019s not something I\u2019m not used to but it\u2019s really cool to be a part of, especially at club level.\u201d<\/p>\n It was not a decision she took lightly. Playing for Angel City was \u201ca dream come true\u201d and a real family affair. Her younger sister Gisele signed shortly afterwards, while her family were able to come to every game and it was something her national team manager, Emma Hayes, raised when discussing the potential move overseas.<\/p>\n \u201cShe asked me: \u2018What are you going to do without Gisele?\u2019 And I was like: \u2018I don\u2019t know but I think I should [go].\u2019 She said that she was going to support me in anything I decide to do but just to make sure that it was the right decision for me. That was a helpful conversation in understanding and clearing my mind. She asked the right questions.\u201d<\/p>\n Thompson cuts a relaxed figure at the club\u2019s Cobham training facility as she continues to adjust to her new environment.<\/p>\n Alyssa Thompson celebrates scoring against West Ham with Johanna Rytting Kaneryd. \u2018Just being around world-class players is amazing,\u2019 she says. Photograph: Paul Childs\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of think of this as like going away for college like all my friends did,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t, so this is me kind of growing up and having to leave the home \u2026 I\u2019ve learned that I relied on my parents a lot. They did a lot of things for me that I didn\u2019t even realise. If I needed anything I could just call them and they would fix it. I\u2019m learning to be more responsible and I feel like that\u2019s good for me for when I\u2019m older.<\/p>\n \u201cLiving in a different place without my family is completely different from anything I\u2019ve experienced before. It\u2019s a lot colder here. The city is very different from LA too. So, there has been a little bit to adjust to but my teammates have helped me so much. Being able to be with [USWNT teammates] Naomi [Girma] and Cat [Mac\u00e1rio] too has been really helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n On the pitch the change has appeared seamless. After making her Chelsea debut against Aston Villa in September, her first goal followed shortly after, at Stamford Bridge against Paris FC in the Champions League<\/a> \u2013 something she did not expect to happen \u201cfor six months or something\u201d \u2013 and she has become a regular starter under Sonia Bompastor.<\/p>\n \u201cSonia teaches me a lot,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel like she\u2019s really a players\u2019 manager. Knowing that it\u2019s hard moving to a different country, I think she just wants me to feel integrated with the team. On the field, learning about mentality is something she talks about a lot and always being aggressive and going forward. She talks about our ambitions for the year and just setting the standard and winning a lot of trophies.\u201d<\/p>\n Thompson already feels she has learned a lot about her game as she adapts. \u201cThe style of play is just a little bit different,\u201d she says. \u201cIn the NWSL, I feel more like we are in transition a lot \u2026 Here you play so many different teams with different styles. Especially being able to play in Champions League, you play teams from like Spain and Italy and you experience different philosophies of soccer and tactics.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve had to learn a lot about my game because I\u2019ve been adjusting so much. With that comes different things that I have to think about that I didn\u2019t have to before \u2026 I have a lot of growth to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust being around world\u2011class players is amazing. I feel like I would just get better even if I wasn\u2019t playing. Being around so many amazing players that just teach me different things every day is really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n Alyssa Thompson admits: \u2018I don\u2019t think I really understood the history of the England culture of it all. I\u2019m learning.\u2019 Photograph: Graeme Robertson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n On Saturday she will be looking to feature in her second derby against Arsenal, this time at Stamford Bridge<\/a> and a must-win game if Chelsea are to challenge Manchester City at the top of the Women\u2019s Super League. Her first was memorable: she scored a sensational opener in a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n \u201cI was in awe of how many people were there and I could hear everything,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt was really cool. Just being able to play at the Emirates was crazy. It\u2019s always going to be a rivalry when two really good teams face each other, but I don\u2019t think I really understood the history of the England culture of it all. I\u2019m learning.<\/p>\n \u201cI love playing at Stamford Bridge. The field is amazing and just having our fans there and hearing the roars of the crowd is really exciting. I\u2019m excited for a competitive game that hopefully we\u2019ll win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alyssa Thompson is no stranger to the limelight. Despite being only 21, her undeniable natural talent and eye\u2011catching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-425466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}