England's Fran Kirby 'setting the benchmark' for No10s in women's football, says Toni Duggan

Kirby "can be her own player, her own individual," says Duggan.
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Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP9 October 2018

Ballon d'Or nominee Fran Kirby can set the benchmark for No10s in the women’s game, according to her England team-mate Toni Duggan.

Chelsea playmaker Kirby and Lioness right-back Lucy Bronze are among 15 nominees for the inaugural Women’s Ballon d’Or, with the winner revealed in Paris on December 3.

Kirby, 25, was crowned PFA Player’s Player of the Year and Football Writers’ Footballer of the year last season and has been compared to Lionel Messi.

After scoring the only goal in England’s 1-0 win over Brazil on Saturday, she was also compared to Brazil’s Marta, who was named best female player at Fifa’s Best awards last month, and also made the Ballon d’Or shortlist.

Ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against Australia at Craven Cottage, Barcelona forward Duggan told Standard Sport: “She got compared to Messi — now it’s Marta. But for me, Fran is Fran. She can be her own player, her own individual.

“Let’s just take her as she is. She’s a brilliant player, she’s doing really well for Chelsea, really well for England and hopefully young girls will grow up wanting to be Fran Kirby, rather than a player she was compared to.

“She can set the benchmark for that No10 role now. We’re very fortunate to have her on our team and hopefully she can keep flying until the World Cup next summer.” Asked if Kirby could become the best player in the world, Duggan said: “Yeah, of course.

“We’ve got a lot of great individuals in the England team.

“Lucy has won accolades in the last year or two and you’ve seen what the World Cup in Canada has done for her. There will be a lot of English names up there with Fran over the next year or two.”

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