This season, 22 Women’s Super League Games will be broadcasted on the BBC - there is no doubt in my mind that widespread coverage of the women’s game is becoming increasingly available to all – yet is the current exposure provided for women’s football adequate to inspire and entertain the masses of youthful female footballers across the country? In an attempt to answer this question, I sat down with ex-Arsenal and current Leicester City Women’s player Lachante Paul to discuss her views on the matter.

Having grown up in a football-crazy family, “most of my family are boys – it was hard not to get involved in football from an early age!”, Paul’s first football team was amassed of a similar crowd – playing for a boys’ team as a child, her talent immediately wowed onlooking spectators. Yet, in a time where women’s football was very much in the shadow of the men’s game, Paul was somewhat fortunate to grow up in this environment – the circumstances leading to her introduction to football perhaps leads one to wonder how many talented young females out there are not given an opportunity to even try football – girls, in my experience, are immediately hoarded into netball or hockey sessions upon joining schools.

When asked whether she felt the 22 live games broadcasted this season were enough, Lachante conceded that, “definitely there should be more, but it is still amazing to be on Sky Sports – the girls who are older than me now (at Leicester) say that they wish there was as much coverage as there is now when they were kids”.  Indeed, strides have certainly been taken to inspire young girls, “It gives me a chance to become a role model” – yet these steps will become increasingly powerful if built upon and expanded – for example, with the opening of new female-exclusive leagues and clubs at grassroots level across the country.