sport news England World Cup star Ella Toone is the Lionesses' Wayne Rooney... raw, ... trends now
On the day the England team re-assembled last autumn, reflecting on the acclaim that had followed their European Championship glory in summer of their lives, they shared stories about the new-found attention which success had brought.
Beth Mead had just appeared in a magazine photoshoot, wearing a Prada sports bra and shorts and designer shoes. Chloe Kelly had modelled a beautiful red ball gown.
Ella Toone described how she'd been 'paparazzied' eating a pasty outside a bakery in Tyldesley, near Wigan. The room dissolved into laughter as she said this.
Lotte Wubben-Moy, the centre half, had to explain to Wiegman was a pasty actually was.
That really was Toone all over. The individual who, often unintentionally, will provide the comedy gold in this squad.
Ella Toone celebrates after powering England ahead in their World Cup semi-final
Toone was photographed eating a pasty after last year's Euro win - a revelation that caused a hilarious moment when the victorious group reconvened
The Lionesses star struck a rasping shot into the top corner to stun the Australian crowd
Toone celebrates with her team-mates after setting England on their way to a famous 3-1 win
But also the blunt, unglamorous one from a former mill town, whose boyfriend plays for Stalybridge Celtic, in the Northern Premier League Division One West.
That boyfriend, Joe Bunney, was browsing around the Rocks area near Sydney Harbour on Thursday morning, hours after Toone had fired England into the World Cup final, though it wasn't the high-end places for him, just a shop selling replica Ugg boots and then the Bakers Oven breakfast place.
If you were making a comparison with the England men's teams of old you might say that Toone is the Wayne Rooney of this squad - a raw, uncomplicated working-class player, most at home in Tyldesley, in the borough of Wigan, as Rooney was in Croxteth.
One of her close friend Alessia Russo's interviews after the Euros final took place in her brother's flat, overlooking Tower Bridge. It wouldn't have been Toone's natural domain.
She has a street-player's instincts, too, and plays with different picture in her head to others. Her volleyed goal against Australia, both feet off the ground after she had despatched it, full force, showed that.
Her goal against Germany in last summer's was in that bracket, too.
When Rooney was displaying this kind of capability for Everton, 20 years ago, Manchester United couldn't wait to sign him up.
'Tooney', as she is inevitably known, was in United's own back yard for six years, scoring goals for the club's girls' teams. But they had no women's team. The club took the view that the entire football focus should be the betterment of the men.
Toone's raw talent and unpretentious upbringing draws comparisons with Wayne Rooney
So she left for Blackburn Rovers, training at a remote, spartan spot called Blacksnape, 80ft up in east Lancashire moors.
Local paper reports are littered with Toone's feats from her five years at Blackburn, including six goals as Rovers beat Rotherham United 19-0.
Toone gets a kiss from boyfriend Joe Bunney after Wednesday's semi-final win
She became an England under-19 international yet United, a club whose fortunes she lived and breathed, were not an option.
She signed for City before the advent of a United women's side finally took her to the fields of Carrington, a stone's throw from Partington - the unprepossessing west Manchester district where she would sometimes socialise.
There was generally a reaction when the schoolgirl Toone or her Blackburn teammate Georgia Stanway pitched up to play for Rovers on some windswept pitch.
'Word had got out about them being England youth internationals,' says Gemma Donnelly, who worked with her there. 'Other players might kick her but they generally could never get a reaction.'
The 23-year-old is self-deprecating, right down to
