Alisha Lehmann: Leicester striker on social media and coping with online criticism

Swiss-born Lehmann, 26, has spoken in the past about how she hopes to use the social media platform to profile women’s football and bring the game to a new audience.

By comparison, the UK’s Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo have 1.5 million and 1.1 million Instagram followers respectively, while former US star Alex Morgan has 9 million followers.

His posts switch between lifestyle content and football, appealing to a wide and diverse following, but making him a target for critics.

“It’s frustrating sometimes,” he tells BBC Sport. “People don’t see the work I put in. They think I just train and then come home to make TikToks – that’s not true.

“I am very professional. I always give my all on the field and want to be the best. When I check my data after training and if I am not doing my best, I do extra laps to improve myself.

“People can think what they want, but everything I do is focused on being the best player I can be.”

Lehmann first gained promotion to the Women’s Super League in 2018 and joined West Ham after scoring twice at the 2018 European Under-19 Championship.

During his six years in England he made 108 appearances for east London, Everton and Aston Villa, scoring 19 goals and providing 10 assists.

After a difficult spell in Italy with Juventus and then Como, Lehmann said it was an obvious decision to return to the country he considers “home”.

“I signed a long-term deal at Como but after a month I realized I didn’t like it and wanted to return to England,” he explains.

“I love it here, the football is better and England feels like home to me.”