Arsenal Women defender Noelle Maritz idolised Mia Haam growing up, made her international debut at 17 and developed into the player she is today at Wolfsburg...but insists she is hungry for more!

Arsenal defender Noelle Maritz has a different response to most English players when asked who her football heroes were growing up.

‘I loved Mia Haam back then,’ Maritz tells Sportsmail. Hamm was one of the stars of the US national team who won the 1999 World Cup on home turf. Maritz, who was just three years old when at that tournament but is old enough to remember their Gold medal win at the 2004 Olympic Games.

The US were streets ahead of Europe when it came to the women’s game. For many of the current English stars growing up at the same time, they idolised the likes of David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen.