Lioness Lucy Bronze used to kip on mates' sofas most of season as 'wage was horrific' - Daily Star

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England favourite Lucy Bronze has opened up to Women's Health's new podcast to reveal the struggles she has had throughout her football journey to became a Lioness

Lucy Bronze has told how she used to kip on friends' sofas during her first year as a professional because the pay wasn't good enough to get her own place.

The England defender told Women's Health's new podcast: "My wage was horrific, I slept on friends' sofas for most of the season.

"I was quite lucky that my mum helped me out with money time to time.

Lucy also opened up on the "struggle" around body image that women sports stars suffer.

The Chelsea star, part of the Lionesses squad at the Euros, said herself and team-mates have had jibes from trolls.

And she revealed role models like tennis ace Serena Williams and Olympic hero Dame Kelly Holmes gave her confidence to give critics the boot.

The 33-year-old said: "The whole body image struggle, I think is something that so many girls go through.

"Even myself, even my teammates have gone through it within their career because there's always gonna be comments, I feel like more so when you are a woman.

"And especially in sport, because there's not one way to be, I think, and historically, you've not always had the variety and diversity of different women to see what strong looks like. What does strong and beautiful and successful look like?

"And when I think of the people who I admire as role models, it was like Dame Kelly Holmes.

"I think she was one of the strongest women I'd ever seen on TV...she was someone who gave me confidence.

"Then I think of Serena Williams, an absolute powerhouse and successful."

Meanwhile, the Lionesses will be looking to bounce back from last weekend's 2-1 defeat to France when they clash with The Netherlands tomorrow (Weds).

Speaking before the Euros, Lucy said she believes England are good enough to repeat their Euros triumph in 2022.

She said: "I think we've got the mentality to do it. We've got the players to do it, so I don't see why not, but, there's always a but, because other teams are involved and they're very talented as well.

"I think Spain's obviously the favourites. They're the World Cup winners...I think Germany and France, again, those are probably the four teams that everybody's got in their mouths for who's gonna win it."