The magnitude of moving from Manchester to Lyon, and committing to spending three years abroad, has not yet hit Nikita Parris, beyond the moment her plane touched down in Lyon and her inner voice responded with: “Where am I and what am I doing?”

It might hit her this Christmas – her first extended stay at home in the past six months, aside from England camps and a lone commercial appearance. But even throughout the first month, living exclusively in a hotel room, the 25-year-old never felt a twinge of doubt. Before this summer, the only time she had left her comfort zone was when she moved from Everton to Manchester City, aged 20, jumping 32 miles across the M62. Lyon is 804 miles away.

“I hadn’t had time to get an apartment because of the World Cup,” she says. “I was concentrating on that. By the time that had finished, I had two weeks to decide: where am I going to live? It’s impossible. I went to visit different parts of the city and ended up living right in the middle because that’s where I felt most comfortable. I could go out, explore, meet different people.

“I haven’t had a moment like that [of it hitting her all at once] yet because everything’s so new – you end up trying to do everything. You explore the place, the culture, new shops, new food. At Christmas, I’ll probably sit there and go, ‘wow – the last six months have been life-changing’. It was just a whirlwind. I remember speaking to my mum and being like: ‘As if I said to you, five years ago, I don’t think I’d ever live outside England. Here I am, now, in my own apartment, in France, by myself’.”