The 29-year-old has not featured competitively for the Blues since March, when she picked up an injury during our Champions League quarter-final first leg against Lyon, but the centre-half has provided a positive update on her progress ahead of the trip down under.

Bright will lead England at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand, having been selected as captain by manager Sarina Wiegman, and is fully focused on being in the best possible condition ahead of their opening Group D fixture against Haiti in Brisbane on 22 July.

Speaking from the team’s training base at St. George’s Park, Bright is pleased about the progress she has been making and although Saturday’s warm-up fixture against Portugal in Milton Keynes may come too early, time and patience will be required.

‘I think we are a little bit ahead (of schedule) actually,’ Bright said. ‘Coming into it, there’s a big chunk of time before the first game, so we’re really confident and everything is going exactly the way we wanted it to go.

‘I think Saturday will be a little bit too soon. I’m not back with the girls yet and I don’t think we want to rush that. Obviously, we have a lot of time until the first game.’

Until picking up the injury, Bright was an ever-present figure for club and country. The England skipper believes the absence has allowed her to properly recover from both a mental and physical perspective.

‘The amount of minutes I’ve played leading up to this has been ridiculous, through the roof, so if anything I feel mentally and physically fresher than I’ve ever felt. I can’t remember the last time I had longer than two weeks off. It’s been a fair few years now.

‘A blessing in disguise I call it, that I’ve mentally and physically been able to completely just have a clean slate and let my body recover. I’ve played through many injuries but this one, I just couldn’t quite get there.’