Millie Turner (born 7 July 1996) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a defender for

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

club

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and the

England national team Team England usually refers to the name under which athletes representing Commonwealth Games England compete. England team or Team England may refer to: *Commonwealth Games England *England national football team *England cricket team *England nat ...

. A product of the United academy, she previously played for Everton and

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

, and represented England at under-19 and under-23 youth level before making her senior debut in 2024.

Club career

Early career

Millie grew up in

Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is south of Manchester. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the parish had a population of 26,213 and the built up area had a p ...

with twin brother Bruce and younger brother

Jake Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach * Jake, a member of the band Enhy ...

, now a professional goalkeeper with Gillingham. At the age of 10 she began playing with

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

before moving to

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and then

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

's highly regarded youth setup. When Crewe's Centre of Excellence folded she drew offers from both Merseyside giants

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and Everton but turned them down in favour of

Everton

Turner joined Everton midway through the 2013 season and linked up with the development squad. She signed her first senior contract ahead of the 2014 season and made her league debut in a 2–0 defeat to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

on 20 April. She made a further five league appearances in her inaugural season, as well as two appearances in the

FA WSL Cup The Women's League Cup, also known as the Subway Women's League Cup due to sponsorship reasons, is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since t ...

. On 1 June, Turner featured in the

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

Final as Everton lost 2–0 to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

at Stadium MK.

Bristol City

In January 2017, Turner joined

ahead of the

FA WSL Spring Series The FA WSL 1 Spring Series was an interim edition of the FA WSL between the sixth and seventh full seasons. The Spring Series ran from February to May 2017 to bridge the gap from the 2016 FA WSL season which ran from March to September as a summer ...

. She made her debut in a 3–1 defeat to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

on 22 April and went on to play in a further seven games that season. Turner was named captain ahead of the 2017–18 FA WSL campaign and scored her first goal for the club in a 2–1 loss to Chelsea in the

on 4 November. She scored her first league goal in a 6–1 defeat to

on 3 May 2018.

Manchester United

On 1 July 2018, Turner joined the newly-formed

to compete in the

FA Women's Championship The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

, reuniting with manager

Willie Kirk Willie Kirk (born 7 June 1978) is a Scottish football manager who was most recently the manager of Women's Super League club Leicester City. Playing career Kirk played semi-professional football for Pumpherston FC, Whitburn FC, and Preston Ath ...

who had been appointed assistant manager at United. She was one of seven players to return to the senior side having played for the club at youth level. She made her debut for the club in a 1–0

win over

on 19 August, and her league debut three weeks later in a 12–0 victory at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. On 23 September, Turner scored her first goal for the club during a 5–0 win against

London Bees London Bees is an England, English women's football (soccer), women's football club affiliated with Barnet F.C. They play in the FA Women's National League Division One South East, the fourth tier of the Women's football in England#Pyramid, Engl ...

. Turner missed the second half of the 2021–22 season after being diagnosed with a

carotid artery dissection Carotid artery dissection is a serious condition in which a tear forms in one of the two main carotid arteries in the neck, allowing blood to enter the artery wall and separate its layers (dissection). This separation can lead to the formation of ...

, forcing her to stop all physical activity. She was able to resume training ahead of the 2022–23 season and made her first appearance since her diagnosis starting in United's opening day WSL victory over

International career

Youth

In February 2014, Turner was named in the England under-19 for the 2014 La Manga Tournament in March. In July 2015, she was named in the England under-19 squad for the

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, is an annual competition in women's football for European national teams of players under 19 years of age. National under-19 teams whose countries belon ...

in Israel. England finished bottom of group B and did not progress.

Senior

In September 2020, Turner received her first senior national team call-up as part of a 30-player training camp at St George's Park. In February 2021, she received her fourth senior call up to the Lioness squad, replacing injured Chelsea defender

Millie Bright Millie Bright (born 21 August 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Women's Super League club Chelsea, which she captains, and the England national team. She previously played for Doncaster Belles and Leeds ...

. After an almost three-year absence, Turner was recalled to the England squad in November 2023 for a pair of Nations League matches against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, again replacing Bright due to injury, where she was an unused substitute in both matches. In February 2024, she was called up to the squad for friendly fixtures against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, to replace an injured

Leah Williamson Leah Cathrine Williamson (born 29 March 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays for Women's Super League club Arsenal and captains the England women's national team. A versatile player, she plays in central defence or the midfie ...

. She made her senior international debut on 27 February, as an 80th-minute substitute in a 5–1 win against

. Turner has been awarded the Legacy number 229 by The Football Association.

Personal life

Her younger brother Jake Turner is also a footballer. Turner was previously in a relationship with fellow women's footballer

Rachel Daly Rachel Ann Daly (born 6 December 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays predominantly as a striker for Aston Villa in the FA Women's Super League. Having spent most of her career with Houston Dash in the NWSL, she spent her yout ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Manchester United *

: 2018–19 *

: 2023–24; runner-up:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2024–25

References

External links

Profile
at the Manchester United F.C. website
Profile
at the Football Association website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Millie 1996 births Living people English women's footballers England women's international footballers Women's association football defenders Women's Super League players Everton F.C. (women) players Bristol City W.F.C. players English LGBTQ footballers English lesbian sportswomen Manchester United W.F.C. players Sportspeople from Wilmslow Footballers from Cheshire 21st-century English sportswomen