“I hope I’m a role model. It’s been very unusual for Americans to stay so long at a European club – I’ve seen so many in the past who found it hard.”

Lindsey Heaps will depart the south of France this summer and return to her homeland to join newly formed Denver Summit midway through their debut season, leaving a very different player and person from the one who arrived in January 2022.

The 31-year-old USA captain has openly referred to herself growing from a “baby” into the skipper of the world’s second-ranked national team in that time, while also flying the flag for US talent outside of their home continent.

It has caught on so much, the NWSL is now openly worried about losing its best homegrown talent to Europe. The most recent USWNT included seven European-based players – five in the WSL and two at Lyonnes, in Heaps and team-mate Lily Yohannes.

“I’ve seen so many players in the past who have found it hard – it really is hard being away from home, at a club with a different culture and language,” she tells Sky Sports as she prepares to enter her final month in France’s second city.

“But these have been some of the greatest years of my career, just because of the experience and the comfort level, it’s just different.

“You’re playing with the best players in the world. I wanted to prove it to myself, but also show young girls that this is possible, especially in the US.

“The opportunities now – I see so many young players wanting to make the move. You see Americans in England, in France, all over the world. That’s something very special.”

Heaps can trace her journey halfway across the world right back to her childhood, beginning playing American football in her backyard with her older brother, encouraged by her parents – both talented runners.

Pitting her wits against a sibling two years her elder was a decent enough re-assurance that she could hold her own against peers her own age and, without knowing it, acted as visceral early evidence she could thrive by trying new things.

“I was a very shy, timid girl,” she reveals. “It wasn’t easy for me to step outside my comfort zone but what my parents did, playing with my brother, and playing football for my first team – which my mum also coached – helped a lot.

“My most vivid memories will always be with football. Once I stepped into that environment, started making friends with the other girls, that grows your confidence. And that was when I was five years old.”

Without having her eyes opened by those opportunities as a child, Heaps would likely have never have got where she is today. No USWNT captaincy, no life in France – perhaps not even the same level of confidence which sport has brought her.

Arsenal Women, Lyonnes’ opponents this weekend, have joined forces with Unilever’s Dirt Is Good campaign to encourage girls to play outdoors, after a survey commissioned by the campaign found one in five in the UK had lost interest in playing outside by the age of eight – and one in 10 never played regularly outside at all.

Together they have reached more than 5,000 families through primary school visits and the work of Arsenal in the Community – and after hearing about the campaign and how it resonated with her own experience, Heaps reached out to get involved too.

“We identified a gender gap between boys and girls and through this research found girls are 22 per cent less likely to play outside than boys,” Tati Lindenberg, CMO of the Dirt Is Good told Sky Sports.

“As many as 22 per cent of girls believe that playing outside freely and getting dirty is a ‘boys’ thing’ – that they shouldn’t get dirty themselves or shouldn’t be freely playing outside, and they spend more time indoors.

“When we saw that, we realised that from a brand standpoint this is an issue, because we know that playing outside freely and getting messy is important for human development – the development of confidence, resilience and creativity.”

There is tangible evidence of this in Heaps’ childhood. She was still not yet a teenager by the time she realised she could have a future in football and soon found herself taking part in age-group sides for the US girls’ national teams.

From there, she caught the eye of French scouts aged 17 – ironically, working for the Lyonnes side she would later join – but decided to prioritise her schooling and remain at home in Colorado for one final year. When that was done, France came calling again, but this time through Premiere Ligue rivals PSG. Now, there really was a decision to make.

“I just had to think, ‘what is more comfortable? Is staying in the USA and going to college really going to help me reach the next level?’

“Growing up, I always loved watching European football. I always tell people I used to watch Barcelona on my TV with a subscription my parents had no idea about.

“All I remember is seeing them lifting the Champions League trophy, and I thought, ‘that’s what I want’. So stepping out of my comfort zone and going for my dream when I had the opportunity – why miss out on it?”

She returned to the US to join Portland in 2016, largely down to the USWNT’s reluctance to select players based abroad, before coming back to France for her spell in Lyonnes in 2022.

Even with that previous experience in France, it was still nerve wracking – but Heaps was not going to miss out on another chance to exit her comfort zone.

“I think of that first moment going to PSG and then the first moment here – there are still hesitations, you’re nervous going into a new team. Maybe the experience before made me a little more stressed coming back.

“But then you remember how far you’ve come – the confidence, the leadership, the experience. You fall back on that. That’s why I wanted to come out here again – because I know who I am as a person now.”

Heaps will leave France again this summer to return stateside with experience and memories no one can take away from her. And, perhaps more importantly, a legacy which has shown others that taking a leap of faith might be the best thing they can do.