It was announced yesterday that Magdalena Eriksson and Pernille Harder will both be bringing their illustrious Chelsea careers to a close when their contracts expire at the conclusion of the current campaign.

The pair have played their part in numerous trophy triumphs for Chelsea Women, many of them under the captaincy of Eriksson, including back-to-back Women’s Super League and Women’s FA Cup Doubles, which could yet become three in a row before they depart Cobham.

However, Hayes explained that their importance to the team’s success runs right to the core of the squad’s philosophy.

‘There’s not enough words to describe the impact, Magda particularly because she’s been here longer, has had on the club,’ said Emma. ‘People don’t really realise what this culture is unless you’re in it and it’s a culture where Magda, alongside me, has driven the standards. I’d say Millie Bright too, the three of us have been the standard bearers.

‘For Pernille, she is one of the most eccentric characters I’ve ever coached. I will miss her eccentricity, no question, her attention to detail, her thirst for winning. Both of them are going to provide their next club with a lot of quality and we’ve lost a lot, no doubt. But equally we’re happy for both of them and we’re very proud of everything they’ve done here.’

With Chelsea Women playing their last home game of the season on Sunday, when we host Arsenal at Kingsmeadow in what could be a crucial match for our title challenge, Hayes also believed it was important to get the decision announced in time to give the duo the send off they deserve with the fans.

‘I love them. I’m proud of P and Mags and I’ll watch them and keep an eye on them. When you coach someone, you coach them for life, in so many different ways. You just always keep an eye on each other. But what I’m massive on is that as a football club it’s important we send the players who meant a lot to us off in the way we want to do it.

‘I know how emotional Mags will get with things, I know that was really tough with her yesterday. For us as a football club we choose to manage things like this. We think our experiences together have been positive and worthwhile and meaningful. We don’t have to be cynical about it, we don’t part in bad ways.

‘For P and Mags to have their moment yesterday was so important and they get their chance to say goodbye to the fans. That means more than anything to the players. You have to put your ego aside, these are two players who deserve that stage and let’s give them that.’

Two players Emma is hoping will very much be a part of her plans for next season, though, are Millie Bright and Fran Kirby, two England internationals who have been unavailable during this season’s tight finale after undergoing surgery, and she updated on their recovery while giving the rest of the squad a clean bill of health.

‘We had a good training session today after a day off yesterday. So relatively light, a 45-minute session today. Everyone bar Millie and Fran is available.

‘Millie’s still on crutches. I think she’ll be okay for this summer’s World Cup but when you have surgery, the reality is she’s had her knee cleaned out and sometimes you give or take a week or two. It might be a little bit earlier, it might be a little bit later, so I expect Millie to make the World Cup but there’s no guarantees of anything in life. I know she saw the surgeon a couple of days ago and they were really happy with it so I have no reason to believe she won’t make it.

‘Fran’s had a successful surgery, the piece of bone’s been taken out of her knee, and she will be back in with the group in pre-season. I think she will need that pre-season, something she didn’t get last year. I’m excited. Without that knee problem we would have had her back, but it was one that unfortunately we couldn’t avoid the surgery in the end.’