Alisha Lehmann: Leicester striker on social media and coping with online criticism

Swiss-born Lehmann, 26, has spoken in the past about how she hopes to use her social media platform to build the profile of women’s football and bring the game to a new audience.

For comparison, England’s Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo have 1.5m and 1.1m Instagram followers respectively, while ex-US star Alex Morgan has 9m.

Her posts alternate between lifestyle content and her football, catering for a broad and diverse following, but making her a target for those who seek to criticise.

“Sometimes, it’s frustrating,” she tells BBC Sport. “People don’t see the work that I put in. They think I just train and then go home to make TikToks – it’s not true.

“I’m very professional. I always give everything on the pitch and I want to be the best. If I’ve not done my best when I check my data after training, I will do extra rounds to try to improve.

“People can think what they want but everything I do is focused on being the best player I can be.”

Lehmann first moved to the Women’s Super League in 2018, joining West Ham after scoring twice in the 2018 European Under-19 Championship.

Across six years in England, she made 108 appearances, scoring 19 goals and providing 10 assists during spells in east London, Everton and Aston Villa.

After a difficult time in Italy with Juventus and then Como, Lehmann says returning to a country she thinks of as “home” was an obvious decision.

“I signed a long-term deal in Como but after a month I realised I didn’t like it and wanted to return to England,” she explains.

“I love it here, the football is better and England feels like home to me.”