Georgia Stanway believes the increased standard in the Women’s Super League has allowed England to compete with the world’s best, as she prepares to travel with the Lionesses to this summer’s Women’s World Cup.

The 20-year-old Barrovian was named in coach Phil Neville’s 23-player squad for the tournament last Wednesday to continue what has been a fantastic rise over the last year.

Stanway’s superb form with Manchester City led to her being named the PFA Women’s Young Player of the Year, while she has won the Continental League Cup and Women’s FA Cup with her club this season.

She also broke into the senior England setup a matter of months after finishing as joint-top scorer in the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in France, the country she will be returning to next month.

Stanway said: “The under-20s was unbelievable – obviously, we didn’t take the last step by making the final, but we came away with a medal by finishing third and on a personal note I came back as the joint-top goalscorer.

“Obviously, that was a massive achievement for me and I think that just shows how far England is going.

“I think we’ve shown that we can compete with the world’s best, whereas maybe in previous years we weren’t able to do that.

“Definitely the competition within our league and internationally has risen and hopefully that can keep growing for the next generations coming up.

“Regarding this summer, I’m mega excited. I never thought I’d be in this position.”

The fact players such as Fara Williams and Izzy Christiansen have missed out on a place in the squad, and with others such as Jordan Nobbs injured, shows the competition Stanway has had to get past.

She has won six caps since scoring on her senior England debut against Austria last November and is set to add to those in the Lionesses’ warm-up matches against Denmark and New Zealand, before the World Cup begins for real on June 7.

Stanway said: “It’s been an unbelievable year; it’s come as a shock that I came from the under-20s World Cup and then jumped straight into the seniors.

“Not many people do that and was it amazing to see as well some of my teammates from the under-20s get their debuts.

“I’m really good mates with [City goalkeeper] Ellie Roebuck, who got her debut too and I actually live with her, so it was a good household that week.

“I’m really excited – obviously, we’ve got a World Cup in the summer, but to even be playing with England is just an unbelievable achievement.”