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Ten games played of the FA Women’s Championship and Manchester United sit top of the table but it’s not that long ago that one of their star players had given up hope of ever playing for her childhood team professionally.

Katie Zelem always wanted to be a professional footballer, having grown up surrounded by boys she had ‘no other option’ than to have a kick-about on her street. And, with no girls team near her she signed up for local boys side Failsworth Dynamos.

Even taunts from the opposition about her ‘only being a girl’ didn’t deter her, it just pushed her on further to try and succeed.

“At first I thought why are these big people shouting stuff at me?” Zelem said. “You’d hear the opposition manager say ‘don’t worry we’ll beat these because they’ve got a girl.’ My teammates used to stick up for me but it didn’t matter, because I knew I was better than them.”

Zelem was right. Because, at eight years old she was signed by United and went straight in to the Under 10s.

“I didn’t really want to sign at first because I just loved playing with my mates, but you have to move on and it turned out for the best,” the 22-year-old explained.

But the disappointment for the lifelong United fan came as she was approaching 17 because, with no professional women’s set up the only option for Zelem, after nine years in the Centre of Excellence, was to leave.

“I was really disappointed to have to go, I loved it there,” she said. “We had a really good team back then. You’re talking about girls now who play for England seniors and in WSL 1, and we just had to disperse.

“It was so disappointing, we had all come through the club, become good players, and then we had to leave.”

Some of Zelem’s former teammates included former Manchester City, now Lyon, midfielder Izzy Christiansen and Gabby George who now plays in defence for Everton. And the United midfielder believes it could have been the red side of Manchester that dominated the women's game over the last eight years if the team had stuck together.

“Potentially we could have had the dominance that Manchester City have had in the women’s game with a few more signings,” she said. “If we could have kept that team together then who knows where it could have been?”

Zelem spoke to City, Liverpool and Everton before finally signing for Liverpool in 2013. And in four years at the club she won two league titles, played alongside her idol Fara Williams and pushed her way into the England set up.

And then ‘out of the blue’ came an opportunity to move to Italy and sign for Juventus in their newly set up women’s team.

Just 48 hours after accepting the offer Zelem had left Liverpool and her family and friends behind in a move which she believes not only improved her as a player but also as a person.

“Without realising it I fell in to the perfect country,” Zelem said. “I love the sun, food and travelling and on the pitch I’m a more technical player.

“And that’s the game they play. Over here we are much more physical a bit like the Premier League. But, over there they’re quite technical based and want to play pretty football which suited me.”

Zelem was enjoying her time in Turin and wasn’t considering a move back to England, especially as she had all but given up hope of United ever forming a professional side.

But, after the news broke that Casey Stoney was to manage United’s new women’s side she knew there was only one place she wanted to go.

“When I left I remember Emma Fletcher (centre director at the time) telling me they’d be back with a women’s team,” Zelem recalls. “And I was thinking ‘yeah, yeah that will never happen.’

“As time went on I thought they had missed the boat completely, I’d been gone five years so I just thought it was never going to happen.

“But as soon as I heard I knew it was great news for the women’s game and once I knew some of the other girls were coming back it just made my decision even easier.”

Zelem was one of the 21 relative strangers that Stoney brought together back in July and since the start of the season the team have taken the league by storm, scoring 43 goals in their opening 10 games and conceding just four.

“The way we have all just clicked is ridiculous,” Zelem said. “If I knew the secret as to how we all bonded so fast and clicked as a team then I’d write a book.

“Obviously there’s still things we can work on, but we’ve got a good foundation.”

Even assistant manager Willie Kirk leaving to manage Everton Ladies has not upset the balance.

“I got on really well with Willie and I thought he brought a lot to the group but it’s football,” Zelem said. “Players come and go and so do staff, as a group we have taken that on board and we’ll bounce back stronger from it.”

Although the team did suffer their first defeat of the campaign in their last league game against Durham, something which Zelem actually believes can benefit the team.

“We conceded our first goal a few weeks ago too and that kind of takes the pressure off,” Zelem explained. “We can turn the defeat into a positive. If you review games that you win all the time then you become comfortable so, if we can go back and analyse why we lost that’s a good thing.”

The team now have a Christmas break before their next game against London Bees on January 6 and with a new calendar year comes reinforced personal and team ambitions.

“Our aim is to get promoted and hopefully we can do that and compete in the top division,” Zelem said. “There’s no doubt Casey will bring in new players to make us even stronger and allow us to compete in the top tier.

“And on a personal level I’ve said from the age of five I want to play for England, that’s been my lifelong ambition. Coming back to England has given me the best possible chance of doing that. The World Cup next year might be a little bit to early for me, but the home Euros in 2021, that’s my dream.”