Leah Williamson: England captain says ACL recovery has 'not been the easiest journey'

England captain Leah Williamson says recovering from a serious knee injury has "not been the easiest journey".

Williamson is seven months into an expected nine-month recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

The 26-year-old sustained the injury in April while playing for Arsenal in the Women's Super League.

"My life has turned from having the best job in the world to having to go and do something every single day that I don't want to do," she said.

Having captained the Lionesses to Euros glory in 2022, Williamson's injury meant she missed out on the summer World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

"Everyone thinks about injury as a thing that takes away your physical ability. Everyone will talk about the fact that I missed the World Cup or these real tangible things that come along with it," she said in an interview with the BBC.

"But it's not even like I'm impartial. I actively don't want to be in this situation. It's not the easiest journey."

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Williamson's ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury came six months after England team-mate Beth Mead suffered the same fate.

"When you're a professional athlete and you have that stimulus all the time, you have that pressure all the time," added Williamson.

"All of a sudden no-one really cares what I'm doing. And there's no pressure on me to do anything at any point in my day. Everything's at my own pace. Everything's on my own terms."

Williamson was seen back in the gym and in individual training on the pitch with Arsenal in September.

But, with a serious injury and long rehabilitation process, she wanted to use the time to take up new hobbies and interests, as well as spend time with her family and friends.

"Despite wanting to be on the pitch, and of course I would rather be on the pitch, it's given me time to just do different things in my life and spend time with the people that I love," she said.

"I've tried to do things that ultimately I can align with the pitch or my return just to feel like I'm getting closer."

Among those things, Williamson learned to play the piano for a performance with the BBC Concert Orchestra at Maida Vale Studios.

"I said I wanted to do this because I wanted to put myself in a situation that was just really high-pressure and kind of provoke those emotions before I make my return to football," she said.

"This has been the hardest time of my rehab. I got to a bit of a stale place in terms of not just working so hard and not really seeing that many rewards in terms of obviously I'm still far away from the pitch, so it's given me a distraction."

Williamson hopes to return for the Gunners before the season ends, but there will be no major tournament next summer for the Lionesses after Team GB failed to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

"I always said that when I finished my injury, I wanted to look back and know that I did something and I've learned something, albeit crash course," Williamson said.

"I've literally come from not being able to play the piano to being able to read music, push the pedal and all the other little bits that go along with it."

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