When Aurora Galli penned a two-year deal with Everton back in the summer of 2021, she wrote her own chapter of football history.
Her arrival on Merseyside was trailblazing; the Tromello-native becoming the first Italian to play in the Women's Super League and, by extension, the first of her countrywomen to play football professionally.
"It was a jump in the dark," she tells the ECHO, reflecting on her decision to leave Turin, where she had been plying her trade for Serie A titans Juventus.
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"I had known for a year before coming to Everton I wanted to come to England. Some teams had already asked me but I wasn’t ready, but when Everton called me I immediately said yes.
"I couldn’t speak English and I was leaving my family and friends behind. But I hope my decision can help some young players from Italy to know it’s possible. "
At 26, Galli is among the most experienced players in Everton's squad. The Blues - who have looked like a side transformed since the arrival of Danish manager Brian Sorensen last summer - are the youngest outfit in the WSL, with an exciting crop of precocious talents resolvedly steering the club in the direction of top-half finish.
The growing sense of cohesion on the pitch is surely aided by the aura of unity off it. This Everton squad is a close-knit group and Galli is one of the most popular figures in the dressing room.
Referred to by her teammates as 'Yaya' - a nickname affectionately coined as a child owing to her inability to pronounce her own first name - Galli relishes her role as chief mischief maker in the squad, although her propensity for joking around does not diminish her desire to leave everything on the pitch when she steps out in Royal Blue.
"I’m very open with everyone and I want to help everyone," Galli admits. "For example, in the changing rooms I just make jokes, because it is a way my teammates can understand me and it shows them my character.
"When you change managers, it is completely different in terms of training sessions and the way you're asked to play. Every season you have new players and it takes time to get to know your teammates.
"At the beginning it was a little bit hard to understand each other but after time I know what my coach and my teammates want from me so there’s a very good atmosphere in the team."
Galli's effusive personality is palpable, even on a drizzly April afternoon at Everton's Finch Farm training ground. When quizzed on the camaraderie within the Everton squad, it becomes clear there is one player in particular with whom Galli shares a close bond.
"Jess Park is like my little sister," the Italian smiles, describing her relationship with the prodigious Manchester City loanee. "We are so funny together, maybe too funny sometimes because the other girls will sometimes tell us to stop joking around.
"We have a very good connection and we of course know when to be serious. On the pitch, we have so much respect for each other. If I say something to her, I know she listens to me and it’s the same the other way round."
Galli has established herself as an integral part of Sorensen's Everton side, notching 18 appearances in all competitions so far this term. For the 26-year-old, who attributes her love of football to the influence of her father and brother, the prospect of playing in front of more than 22,000 fans at Goodison Park is still scarcely conceivable; the midfielder having grown up kicking a ball around in the streets of northern Italy.
"I would just take my ball and go with my brother to play outside in the street," Galli recalls. "It was probably quite dangerous because there were cars passing all the time and my mum would be in the window screaming at me but I just wanted to play football.
"I started playing with boys and I didn’t even know about women’s football. I was blindsided. When I was 15, Inter Milan called me and asked me to play with their women’s team and the following year the national team called me. When I put my Italian jersey on, I knew football was what I wanted to do."
And Galli will be hoping to pull on that Italian jersey again this summer, when Le Azzurre will travel to the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. After a disappointing EURO 2022 campaign, Milena Bertolini's side will be hoping for a much improved showing on world football's grandest stage, and Galli is determined to use the rest of the domestic campaign to prove exactly why she deserves a seat on the plane in July.
"With big tournaments like the World Cup and the EUROs, every player wants to be in the squad," she admits. "But right now my job is to play well at Everton, show what I can do and whatever happens, happens."
The first opportunity for Galli to show what she can do will come when Everton take on Brighton in the Women's Super League on Wednesday night. The Seagulls are currently languishing at the bottom of the table - although they will be buoyed by the arrival of new head coach Melissa Phillips from NWSL side Angel City - and Galli is hopeful that the Blues' trip to Broadfield Stadium will provide a platform for a strong end to the season.
"I expect that we’ll control the game and hopefully win it. But we’ll need to show character and show our ideas that we’ve worked on in the international break," says the 26-year-old.
"I think this team can do very well going forward. We have the youngest squad in the league but we also have experience in the squad to help the young players.
"With the right instruction, I think we can do really well. When I was young, there was no professional league. Looking at it here now, everything is so professional and there are so many fans.
"You saw that when we played at Goodison. It’s amazing, because it’s not just the players who understand something has changed in women’s football, it’s the people who come to watch. They believe in us and they want the game to continue to grow."
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