Jodie Taylor has just been eliminated from the European Championships with England, but on a personal level she had a tournament worthy of praise.

Scoring five goals in England’s five matches, Jodie is the top scorer of the tournament so far as England got knocked out in the semi-finals. She’ll remain top unless one of the players behind her gets more than a hat-trick in their final game.

Recognising her good performances this summer, Arsenal posted a video to their YouTube channel where they talked to Jodie about her career so far.

A forward known for her movement and goalscoring prowess, Jodie described herself as “the son [her] dad never had”, given that she comes from a family of four girls. She also highlighted the sacrifices that her dad had to make for her to achieve her goals in football.

Her first big setback on a professional level came aged 16, when she broke her leg at what she described as a “crucial” time in her career. She was at Tranmere Rovers at the time, the club where she spent her entire teenage career. The men’s fitness team helped Jodie out throughout her recovery, something the England international is still grateful for.

“It was huge from the club to offer that because I don’t know what I would have done, because it was quite a bad injury,” Jodie said tearfully “I obviously made the decision to stay at Tranmere because of how well they’d treated me and supported me.”

She then got herself a scholarship in America, a move which still represents a big opportunity in the women’s game.

“I’m excited to pull the shirt on and try and get this team back into the Champions League where it belongs, but I know it won’t be easy because the quality in the league is much higher now.”

Whilst there, Taylor achieved a BSc in Psychology and Sociology, so there’s more to her than just footballing ability.

However she actually ended up taking a break from football and focused on coaching, as she wasn’t in the running for an England spot anyway.

Now she’s back, and she says she has no plans to stop a second time: “I’m not going to stop playing, I’m not going to make that mistake again. I’m going to keep going until I possibly can and it (football) still motivates me and drives me to this day.”

Taylor signed for Arsenal in March, 2016. She scored twice in her debut against Doncaster Belles. So far, she has five goals in nine appearances after spending a large part of her debut season on the sidelines through injury.

When signing for Arsenal, she admitted wanting to help the Gunners return to their former glory days at the top of the tree. “It’s all motivation, which helps you develop as a player and a team,” she said at the time. “It’s a challenge, as Arsenal don’t smash teams every week like they used to.

“I’m excited to pull the shirt on and try and get this team back into the Champions League where it belongs, but I know it won’t be easy because the quality in the league is much higher now.”