The England youth international had an excellent first season in the Women's Super League and looks sure to have a huge future
There are not too many better ways to announce yourself as one of the Lionesses’ hottest prospects than by flicking the ball over the head of an England legend to set yourself up for your first goal for a club like Liverpool. That’s exactly how Mia Enderby, the Reds’ 18-year-old starlet, marked her name out as one to remember this past season.
It was back in November that she received the ball while under pressure from Steph Houghton, captain of the Lionesses for seven years, only to twist and lift it beyond the veteran defender while on the turn. In an instant, she was in behind, her lightning pace leaving her opponent in her wake as she burst into the box and arrowed the ball into the far corner.
It might not have been a monumental goal in terms of the result, simply changing the scoreline from 4-2 to 4-3 in the dying embers of Liverpool’s Continental Cup defeat to Manchester City. But after shining in the second-tier with Sheffield United for two years, this felt like the moment Enderby caught the eye on a wider scale and put herself on many more maps across England.
The Lionesses have a lot of exciting young talent coming through the system right now, and a pathway prepared to help them to the top, but Enderby’s debut season in the Women’s Super League has only reinforced the idea that she is prime among them.
Simon Bellis / SportimageWhere it all began
Despite no one really influencing the passion, from the moment Enderby could walk, she wanted to play football. That love took her into a local boys’ team in her early childhood before she successfully trialled for Leeds United’s regional talent centre at Under-12s level.
Her breakthrough in the senior game, however, came a little further south with Sheffield United, in the FA Women’s Championship. The Blades have long been fantastic at developing and trusting in young talent, and Enderby benefited from that when she debuted for the club aged 16, having joined from Leeds. A year later – with another prodigious teenage winger, Lucy Watson, having been snapped up by Chelsea – she became a regular starter and a key player, scoring seven goals for a team that finished eighth in a league of 12.
AdvertisementLiverpool FCThe big break
Unsurprisingly, plenty of WSL clubs showed interest in Enderby and, last summer, Liverpool won the race to sign her. Manager Matt Beard has an excellent track record of trusting in young players and his plans for the 18-year-old’s development won her over instantly.
“When I first spoke to Beardy, I had a meeting with him and Russ [Fraser, managing director], he went through a whole PowerPoint of me. After the meeting I said to my mum and my agent straight away, 'I want to come here',” Enderby tells GOAL. “I feel like everything he said, how confident he was about me, after that, I just wanted to come here.”
It was a big step. It would be the teenager’s first move away from her home in Bradford, her first experience at a professional, full-time team and a jump up to one of the best leagues in the world. However, she’s adapted brilliantly.
“To be honest, when I first came here, I wasn't expecting minutes at all,” Enderby admits now. “I am grateful for the minutes that I am getting and I'm just trying to keep working hard in games, in training, to hopefully start every game. That's my aim. I'm really grateful for [Beard] to put his trust in me and give me the confidence that I can play a lot more minutes.”
How it's going
Enderby has certainly set about repaying that faith put in her. After a bit of bad luck with injuries in the first half of the season, she had a brilliant and consistent run at the end of the campaign in particular.
She’s not shied away from the big moments either. Her goal against Man City in the Conti Cup was a moment in which she really announced herself to a wider audience, while her starring role in Liverpool’s shock win over Chelsea really showcased her potential and growth all at once.
Enderby has also been a key player for England’s youth teams this season, helping to secure qualification for a UEFA U19 Women’s Championship that she’ll hope to thrive in later this summer.
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GettyBiggest strengths
When GOAL asks Beard what stood out when he first watched Enderby, he doesn’t hesitate to reel off so many of her best attributes. “She’s direct, can beat players, can score goals, can score all types of goals,” he replies immediately. The 18-year-old’s raw pace is certainly another big asset that helps make her a real threat to any defence, with Beard noting that Millie Bright and Jess Carter, two of England’s best defenders, were “terrified” of it when Liverpool faced Chelsea earlier this month.
As Enderby’s first season at the highest level ends, you can see where she has already made big strides with this experience, too. That’s certainly true of the physical side, with the player herself even believing she’s got faster in the past year, while the tactical element is another she’s developed well in.
“With any player, when you've not played professionally, it takes a little bit of time to cope with the demands of the tactical element,” Beard explains. “We have a set way of playing, but there's always weaknesses that we want to exploit so we will alter things throughout the week. We may have more than one way of playing, more than one system, so there's a lot of information that you need to take on throughout the week. She's adjusted to that really, really well. I think the great thing for me is you can see the understanding.”
But perhaps above all is Enderby’s attitude to work hard. She can still get frustrated at times on the pitch, and “be her own worst enemy” Beard notes, but to talk to the teenager is to understand that she has a drive and a desire to do the hard yards to reach the very top. “Literally ever since I could walk, I've always wanted to play football,” she says. “It was my dream to play in the WSL and represent my country at the senior level. I feel like I'm a step closer. I've just got to keep working hard so I can get there.”