WOMEN’S Super League star Georgia Stanway has cemented her place with title-winning Manchester City by penning her first professional contract.

The 18-year-old Barrow ace has signed a new deal to keep her with the Blues ahead of the defence of their Super League and Continental Cup crowns.

“I’m absolutely over the moon to be signing my first contract,” Stanway told ManCity.com.

“Manchester City is where I want to be so I’m happy to continue my journey here.

“When I found out the club wanted to keep me on, there was no doubt in my mind. My first thought was: ‘where’s the pen!’”

Stanway took the top-flight by storm last season – her first full year with City after making the move from Blackburn Rovers.

The former Victoria Juniors and Dowdales School pupil netted eight times across the campaign – including a hat-trick against Sunderland and a wonder strike against Liverpool which won the club’s goal-of-the-season award.

Her efforts were combined with turning out for England Under-17s in both the European Championships – where they secured a best-ever finish of third – and the World Cup in Jordan, where she scored three times as the Young Lionesses reached the quarter-finals.

She is currently training with the England Under-19s squad for the first time, ahead of two fixtures against Norway.

Her all-round efforts saw her shortlisted for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year Award.

Stanway hopes she can continue to build on her success through the 2017 season, and the former Furness Rovers and Dalton girls junior added: “The hard work doesn’t stop here. I have to make sure I keep playing and doing what I’m doing, and then good things will follow.

“Nick (Cushing, the City manager) said that to me, but it’s also my personal view. If I keep working hard, positives will come out of it.

“The way I’ve grown has definitely reflected on the England stage. It’s important to keep doing what I’m doing.

“Last season, I had a good performance overall and I was happy with that. I want to keep building on that.

“I have to say my career highlight was my hat-trick when we beat Sunderland 3-0, but of course it was also amazing to win two cups (the WSL and the Continental Cup) and represent my country at a World Cup.

“I’d love a lot more game-time – that’s what I’m pushing for this season – and goals and assists of course.

“I’m part of a team and we all do the best we can to support each other.

“As a team, we’re so competitive and so positive. Everyone wants the best out of each other.

“If someone scores, we all celebrate and we have the right team spirit to achieve success like we did last season.”

Stanway will feature when England Under-19s take on Norway at St George’s Park tomorrow and again on Saturday.

The games are part of the preparations for England’s Euro qualifying campaign, which begins in the spring with elite qualifying round matches in Turkey.

They will take on the host nation (on April 5), Denmark (April 7) and the Czech Republic (April 10), with the group winners progressing to the finals in Northern Ireland in August.

The top-three teams from the finals will qualify for the Under-20s World Cup in France next year.