Maya
Le Tissier

The Guernsey-born defender, who had completed a move from Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer transfer window, scored twice in a 4-0 win over Reading on the opening weekend of the new Women’s Super League season, making for the perfect start to her career in the North West. Having elongated her strong opening to the campaign, Maya quickly became a fans’ favourite, and the young centre-back’s efforts were recognised at international level, with her first senior call-up for England arriving in November that year. Le Tissier made her debut in the second match of that autumn camp, against Norway, before returning to United to resume a strong central-defensive partnership with Millie Turner, which helped the Reds keep a WSL record of 14 clean sheets in the 2022/23 campaign. It was the foundation for a club-high second-place finish in the table, at the end of a season that also included Maya’s first Women’s FA Cup final, as the Reds lost out narrowly to Chelsea at Wembley. The defender featured in every game of her maiden term in Manchester, and carried on the trend in her sophomore season, starting each match of our 2023/24 campaign, including the successful return to the national stadium for our second successive FA Cup final. Le Tissier proudly lifted the trophy after playing her part in United’s 4-0 triumph over Tottenham and had more silverware to celebrate before the season was out, after being picked as a joint-winner of our Players’ Player of the Year award, alongside Ella Toone. Before the start of the 2024/25 term, it was announced that Maya would take over from Katie Zelem as the team’s captain, following the latter’s offseason departure.