England forward Beth Mead is a ‘goalscoring monster’ and hungry for the Golden Boot

Beth Mead is in the form of her life. On Monday she scored her fourth England hat-trick in nine months in an 8-0 win over Norway and is leading the way in the race for the golden boot at Euro 2022.

A ‘goalscoring monster’ is how Ian Wright described her. No player is in better form and she is one of the first names on manager Sarina Wiegman’s team sheet.

But rewind a year and Mead was sitting at home, feeling rejected and bitter about being left out of Team GB’s squad for the Olympic Games.

The snub by manager Hege Riise was a blow, and Mead has admitted she felt resentment as she watched her team-mates playing in Tokyo.

Though she did not know it at the time, it was perhaps the best thing that could have happened to her. The anger that Mead felt at being cast aside is what has fuelled an outstanding season for club and country.

Both Wiegman and Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall deserve credit for the role they have played in Mead’s form.

Eidevall took over at the Gunners in the summer and immediately recognised her talent, but she was a player low on confidence.

Mead is one of the first names on manager Sarina Wiegman’s team sheet at Euro 2022

Speaking on the BBC, Eidevall said: ‘One of the first few training sessions I had at Arsenal, Beth was coming on a 1v1, she stepped on the ball, she passed the ball back so I blow the whistle. I came up to her and said “I never want to see that again. You’re too good for stepping on the ball and passing the ball back. When you have the opportunity, when you’re in pace, you have to take her on every time. If you fail, you have my back but you have to do it every time.”’

Mead took those words on board and when Arsenal played Chelsea in the first game of the season, she was the match-winner to two goals in a 3-2 victory. That match was the turning point for Mead. Her performance earned her a call-up to Wiegman’s first England squad and she has not looked back.

She was on the scoresheet in the first game against North Macedonia but it was the next England camp where she really made her mark. The Lionesses were playing Northern Ireland at Wembley. With the score still goalless after 60 minutes, Wiegman brought Mead off the bench. Within 14 minutes she had scored her first international hat-trick. She now has three, with one in the 20-0 win over Latvia as well as Monday night’s game.

‘I think reaction is key in football,’ Mead told Sportsmail last month. ‘Things happen for a reason and we can only control what we do, I’ve come out and done the best and reacted the best I could.’

Wiegman has put her trust in Mead and has reaped the rewards. The winger has been directly involved in 29 goals in Wiegman’s 16 games in charge, scoring 18 and assisting 11.

Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall deserves credit for the role he played in Mead’s rich vein of form

‘I’ve known where I’ve stood, what she’s expected of me,’ Mead said on Wiegman. ‘She’s given me a lot of confidence. It’s just been easy for me to go on the pitch and do what I know I can do and have the backing of my manager.’

Mead has always had a habit of proving people wrong and always says she plays better when she’s angry. She struggled to get a game for England under Hope Powell, despite being the top scorer in the WSL with Sunderland.

Back then she was a No 9. Her move to Arsenal saw her shifted to the wing, a positional change Mead has admitted she did not always favour. But her second goal against Norway demonstrated just how much she has developed in that role.

Mead cut in from the right, twisted and turned past three players before finishing into the bottom right corner. It was a run and goal that any winger would have been proud of, and Eidevall described her performance as the ‘best of any wide player at the tournament so far’.

Mead admitted that she would ‘love’ to win the golden boot and she is now the bookies’ favourite to do so. ‘I don’t think I even dreamed of this,’ Mead said after her hat-trick heroics on Monday. If she continues in this vein of form, there’s every chance she could end this tournament with another hat-trick – the golden boot, the best player award and a Euro winners medal.

Beth Mead is an ambassador for McDonald’s Fun Football, who are offering one million kids access to FREE football over the next four years as part of the largest grassroots football programme in the UK. Visit McDonalds.co.uk/Football