From the age of 14, Sibley knew that a career in the game was what she desired, and she was willing to make sacrifices to achieve her dream.

And she vividly remembers the moment a lightbulb went off inside her head which made everything fall into place.

"I joined Chelsea when I was 14, started off really well, and managed to get a foot in the door in terms of training with the first team a couple of times a week," said Sibley, who joined Newcastle United Women on a season-long loan from Crystal Palace Women last summer.

"Next thing I know, I'm training regularly, going on tours and being named in matchday squads. I was just a sponge around all of these players; some of them might say I was a bit cheeky, but that's just me.

"I always remember going in one dark morning at 8am in Cobham and thinking to myself, 'this is the life for me,' as I'm sat next to all of these ballers and soaking up all this knowledge.

"To be honest, it was probably before that moment I wanted to be a professional footballer. For as long as I remember I was trying to throw on a football kit, no matter the team."

At the age of 25, Sibley has already spread her wings far afield, both on and off the pitch. After Chelsea, a college degree awaited her in West Virginia, while more recently she's taken a step into the world of social media influencing.

"Growing up, my mum was really good at making sure my sister and I were independent, so I never batted an eyelid when I had to travel thousands of miles to America," she said.

"I grew up and matured so much in America, although some of the girls in the squad might say that I'm not as mature as I should be, but that's a good thing!

"I learnt a lot about myself with every passing year, and it's helped me become who I am today. It still takes a lot of courage for me to do things like photoshoots and videos, but my family have been kicking me to do more stuff like that.

"They're always telling me to take pictures of my outfits and do little day-in-the-life videos, and I've only recently started to do those on my Instagram because that's really out of my comfort zone.

"It's a good way to distract me from football when I'm not playing or training, so maybe that's the line of work I'll go down once I hang up the boots: golfer during the day and influencer at night!".

While the former England youth international has enjoyed success in both America and England, nothing could've prepared her for the biggest setback of her career.

The Uxbridge-born winger was flying with Crystal Palace Women upon her mid-season return from the States in 2022, having earned a call-up to the England Under-23s - then tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

"It was all such a whirlwind for me because I got a call-up to play for England's under-23s and flew out to Italy and trained at St. George's Park," she added.

"Then, just a week later, I'd injured my ACL. So in the space of seven days, I'd gone from the highest of highs in my career to the lowest of lows.

"I was actually the first player to injure their ACL while playing for Palace, so it was a new experience for everyone.

"It certainly wasn't the best experience to go through in my career, but it helped me a lot off the pitch. I started to see football from a different perspective.

"For me, I knew my body was ready to return to football, but I'd also gone without touching a football for six months, so it took me a bit of time to find my feet.

"In fact, it was only this summer in pre-season when I thought that I was back feeling myself. You never want to step away from football, especially when your career isn't very long."

That's of the reasons why she needed very little persuading to make a loan move to play regular football on Tyneside.

The winger was more than happy to swap the bright lights of London for the North East, although it's still taking her time to get used to North East weather.

"I knew it was a good idea for me to leave on loan, and as soon as they mentioned Newcastle were interested, I was sold and wanted to move, although I still don't think I've adjusted to the cold," Sibley joked.

"Even if it's 15 degrees, I'm out there with my gloves, hat and a snood on but to be honest, it's not as bad as what most people make it out to be.

"I'm trying to not put myself under too much pressure because I want to be able to go out onto the pitch stress-free and to take each game as it comes."

But settling into a new club and new surroundings wasn't alien to Sibley - especially when she found out who else was set to be playing in black and white.

Both on and off the pitch, Sibley and Wales international Lois Joel have a great bond and are rarely seen apart, but this stems much further back than simply playing together.

"It wasn't until the last two weeks of pre-season when I was telling her that I was finally joining, and she turned around and said she was also going to Newcastle, and we couldn't believe it," explained Sibley.

"People don't understand, but back when we used to both play Sunday League football, she lived in North London and I lived in West London, so we played against each other.

"There's one story I always tell people that my mum went up to her dad and said we were the two best players, and both said how good each other were and my mum joked about how we were going to play for England together one day.

"There was this one England camp that we went on when we were rooming opposite each other, and I don't know why, but we just started playing pranks on people. We were putting cling film over the toilet or taking shoelaces and hiding them.

"So we were at Chelsea together and then went to England camps together until under-19s. Then she went over to America, and I followed her over there - so we've been inseparable for a good ten years now."