England’s Nikita Parris could develop into one of the world’s best players, according to head coach Phil Neville.
Parris scored the opening goal of England’s Women’s World Cup campaign in their 2-1 win over Scotland on Sunday.
The 25-year-old became the Women’s Super League’s all-time top scorer last season with Manchester City and has since moved to European champions Lyon.
“You’ve seen a little snippet of what a special player we’ve got,” said Neville.
Parris was the winner of the Footballer Writers’ Women’s Footballer of the Year award in April, after scoring 19 league goals and lifting the FA Cup with City.
At international level, she missed out on a place in the England squad as a 21-year-old at the 2015 World Cup, but competed at Euro 2017 and now has 35 caps for her country.
Parris admitted to being nervous before making her World Cup debut in front of 13,118 fans at Nice’s Allianz Riviera.
“I’m not going to lie to you. I sat in my hotel room and said to Abbie [McManus] my team-mate, ‘I’ve got butterflies’,” she said.
“It was the first time. I hadn’t experienced a moment like that. But ultimately I stuck with myself and thought – what two things can you bring to the game today? That’s passion, and drive, and all the rest came for me.”
Neville added: “Nikita is an example of the work England and Man City have done.
“We’ve challenged them 16 months ago to be best players in the world in their position. We’ve seen a player develop from being a really good WSL player to signing for the best team in the world.”
England will now head to Le Havre for Friday’s Group D match with Argentina, before returning to Nice to face Japan on Wednesday, 19 June.
