Meet Mia Fishel – the independent spirit starring for ‘dream team’ Chelsea

It is Thanksgiving in the United States on Thursday, ordinarily an occasion to get together with family and friends for Mia Fishel. Instead the Californian will be 5,500 miles from home. Unless Chelsea’s nutritionist is feeling generous she will not be tucking into roast turkey and pumpkin pie.

But she will be thinking of home and feeling thankful. When the west coast wakes up she will call family and text friends. Then she’ll prepare for a likely Champions League debut, for Chelsea against Paris FC at Stamford Bridge.

Fishel has good reason to feel blessed – the word tattooed on her right arm. The 22-year-old grew up in San Diego supporting Chelsea. Now she is playing for them, settling in so well the biggest problem is trying to change social media handles from @miafishel10 to @miafishel2 – the No 10 shirt belongs to Lauren James.

She also made her US debut last month and scored her first international goal, watched by family and friends in San Diego.

Blessed indeed, but this is the result of hard work and brave choices. Besides the commitment required of any elite athlete, Fishel has taken an uncommon route to the Women’s Super League champions.

A stand-out soccer student at UCLA, she was selected as fifth pick on the NWSL draft by Orlando Pride. However, in a rare move she chose to head south to Tigres UANL in Mexico.

By the end of 2022, she had a championship medal won in a two-leg play-off watched by a combined 94,000 fans.

Chelsea came calling. Showing that same independence of mind, she turned them down.

Sitting in a small room at Chelsea’s Cobham base Fishel, bright and confident, recalls: “It was just too quick for me. But when my agent told me that they were interested I just lit up. I was like, ‘Hey Sam Kerr, world class players are there. They win everything’. It was a really cool moment to know that my hard work and my sacrifice, and the big risk I took leaving UCLA to Tigres was worth it.”

But Fishel still waited until she was ready, and continued scoring goals, including two in the Aztec Stadium as Tigres won the overall final against spring title winners America (Liga MX Femenil has a split season with two campaigns).

“It was an experience of a lifetime. There was a lot of pressure, coming from the US youth team and a top five pick. I will never forget the people that took me in. The player that I became, the person that I became, it’s mainly because I went to Mexico. It shaped me into the person I am today and led to my dream team Chelsea.”

Why Chelsea? Fishel grew up in a soccer-mad family. Two uncles played for Bermuda – she played her cousin when the US met Bermuda at U18 level.

“My brother and my dad would have it on the TV all the time. So I was just there, watching it with them. My brother was a Gunners fan. My dad was Liverpool. And I liked the colour blue. I liked [Didier] Drogba, then [Eden] Hazard, so Chelsea’s my team.”

Fishel also knew assistant manager Denise Reddy, who had coached her in the US, and Catarina Macario, with whom she played in San Diego junior soccer.

“I spoke to [Macario] about Chelsea. She was, ‘this is the team to be at, to grow and become one of the best’.”

And she spoke, at length, to Emma Hayes.

“She was one of the main reasons why I came here. I talked to her about our lives, who we are as people. There’s a lot of similarities with who we are outside the field.

“We really care about meeting our goals and the way that we do it as people. We want to be good people first. Players are fighting in the locker room over playing time, but Emma does a really good job of making sure that everyone’s role is clear and we’re going out as a team.”

The respect is mutual. “Signing her was a no-brainer,” said Hayes. “She is a sponge, she wants to learn, to improve. You can see she has all the attributes to be world class. Now she has to work hard to get things right in training, to understand her all-round game, but what a fantastic start she’s made.”

A nice thing to hear from your current manager – and future national coach. When the news broke about Hayes taking over the US team did her team-mates call?

“Definitely. I told them Emma’s an amazing person on and off the field. The team is excited to see what she can do for us.”