Rose Lavelle: Manchester City midfielder believes England are now a big rival to United States

New Manchester City signing and World Cup winner Rose Lavelle says a rivalry has developed between England and the United States.

Lavelle believes the England Women's national team are getting stronger and stronger, with a number of exciting, young players coming through.

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The American midfielder told The Women's Football Show that as England improve on the pitch, the rivalry between them and the USA will intensify.

Lavelle said: "They have some great players and a lot of really young, exciting players too. Watching the Community Shield and having Georgia [Stanway], Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly up top - they're really exciting to watch.

"I think that it's just going to get harder and harder every time we play them especially with a new flow of young talent coming through, it's going to continue to be a pretty big rivalry."

'Challenges at Manchester City will make me better'

Lavelle became City's third signing of the transfer window after agreeing a one-year-deal to join from OL Reign, and the 25-year-old admits life in the Women's Super League will be a challenge which will make her a better player.

City head coach Gareth Taylor played a key role in Lavelle's decision to move to the club, and she believes she will be constantly learning under his management.

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Lavelle said: "I think over here it's very tactical and technical. You're going to have to break down teams by passing, not necessarily in transition, so I think that's a side of my game that I want to work on.

"I felt like it was time for me to experience something new so I wanted to do this. Talking to Gareth, it was about how they played, how the girls were, how he saw me fitting into that equation.

"It was all very appealing to me and something I felt like was going to make me better. I feel like Gareth is going to be great for me.

"I think he's going to challenge me in ways I haven't been challenged before and I think I'm going to learn so much from the players and the staff. I think it's just an environment that I felt I was going to be constantly learning in."

USA team-mate Mewis a big influence for Lavelle

Lavelle says that the biggest challenge she faced when making the decision to play for City was moving so far away from her home in Cincinnati - but having international team-mate Sam Mewis at the club has been a huge help for her in making the transition.

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Lavelle said: "I'm such a huge homebody - people are probably like stop talking about Cincinnati - but it's where all my family is and it's just a place I love so much.

"So that was the biggest challenge I had, being far from home, but at the same time I knew that this was the perfect move to get me to where I want to go.

"Man City's a great club so I'm leaving my home in one spot but I'm going to make a new home somewhere else and it's going to be a great, fun, exciting challenge for me."

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Mewis, who was also part of the United States squad which successfully retained the World Cup in France in 2019, signed a short-term deal at City before it was confirmed that Lavelle would also sign for the club.

Lavelle added: "Selfishly it's a little nice that she got here before me because she kind of gave me the lowdown and I've been asking her questions so it's been nice to have her here, she's definitely helped out a lot.

"We had been keeping each other in the loop in terms of where we were with our decision. I want to say it was the deciding factor but I think when we both knew that this was something that we were really serious about doing, it was definitely exciting to know that I was going to have a familiar face and Sam is one of my best friends.

"It's not just somebody I know but somebody that I'm best friends with. I think it'll be so fun to be able to experience this with her."

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