The scuba diving keeper who has filled Earps' gloves at Man Utd

"She is on a trajectory to be the best in the world, I have no doubt about that."

Manchester United manager Marc Skinner has not stopped praising goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce after a near-flawless season for the club.

You can't blame him after her performances helped United secure a Champions League spot next season and book their place in a third successive FA Cup final.

The 28-year-old American had big boots to fill when England keeper Mary Earps departed for Paris St-Germain in the summer but she has made it look easy.

United hope to round-off the season with silverware when they defend their crown against Chelsea at Wembley on 18 May - and Tullis-Joyce will no doubt have her say.

Earps' stature had grown so much that by the time she left United, the 32-year-old had a Euro 2022 winners' medal, two Fifa Best goalkeeper awards and a mural of herself at Old Trafford.

With the departing keeper a fan favourite and a mainstay of United's starting XI, Tullis-Joyce knew it would be a challenge to pick up the baton.

"I definitely knew that I was coming into a high pressure environment, especially coming after such a great goalkeeper," said Tullis-Joyce.

"I think for me, that pressure was never related to Mary. I know that I am a different keeper, I never really let that affect me.

"It was more the pressure of making sure that I kept to the same standard that is expected of a Manchester United goalkeeper.

"I took that very seriously and that [was about] taking each moment as [if it was] a very precious one. That's really how I handled it."

After signing from Seattle Reign in 2023, Tullis-Joyce had to watch on patiently before being handed her opportunity to shine for United.

Few could have imagined just how impressive she would be, but she ended the WSL season with the Golden Glove award for the joint-most clean sheets (13), having also made her USA debut in a friendly win against Brazil.

So rapid was her rise, United handed her a three-year contract extension in April.

But Tullis-Joyce says it has not all been smooth sailing.

"There are absolutely major moments of nerves, self-doubt, and definitely some bumps and bruises along the way," said Tullis-Joyce.

"But that is what has got us even further I think. All of the mistakes have led us to becoming a better, stronger team, and especially myself.

"There have been moments that I look back on and cringe still watching the videos - but I see the progress that I've made and I'm pretty astounded by how much I've grown.

"No matter the highs that have come and the lows that have come, you have just got to make that next step."

"She's sick!" United captain Maya Le Tissier says at the sound of Tullis-Joyce's name.

The centre-back says having Tullis-Joyce in goal gives her confidence and she has already become a leader within the squad.

"She's an amazing person. An unbelievable goalkeeper. We lost Mary in the summer but Phallon had been training the whole of the previous season," said Le Tissier.

"We knew she was going to be ready and she knew what it was going to take."

Alongside departing coach Ian Willcock and the rest of the goalkeeping group, Tullis-Joyce said she spent last year as back-up "watching" and "building chemistry" with her team-mates.

Away from the pitch, whenever her schedule allows, the 28-year-old spends time on her other hobbies - scuba diving, photography and collecting fossils.

Pursuing those passions has taken her around the world - from Costa Rica to Egypt to Norway.

"It's helped me tremendously just to have something that's completely and utterly separate from my career on the field," she said.

"I even took up free diving [which involves holding your breath and travelling as far as you can underwater without the use of breathing equipment] as well.

"That helped me understand my body's physiological responses to stress. I am able to sense my stress a little bit faster."

Growing up in Long Island, New York, she fell in love with the ocean and went on to study marine biology at the University of Miami - something she is planning on returning to when she hangs up her gloves.

"My plan post career is to go right back into the ocean and hopefully help with expanding marine protected areas to make sure that we take care of all the animals that we live with on this beautiful planet," she says.

In the meantime it is local Manchester students who have benefited from her expertise as she has spent time teaching them about marine conservation as part of a club initiative.

She also takes her football career very seriously.

Manager Skinner revealed last month that she had wanted to be involved in the interviewing process for the club's next goalkeeping coach, saying the request epitomised her "due diligence as a person".

"What she was trying to say to me is 'Marc, I trust you are doing your job right but I want to make sure this is the right person'."

Tullis-Joyce's whirlwind season will come to an end with, or without, a winners' medal at Wembley this weekend.

Her family are travelling to London to watch her play, then Tullis-Joyce already has a holiday booked to Barbados and the Dominican Republic to go scuba diving.

Meanwhile, Skinner is already thinking ahead to the future and what Tullis-Joyce can go on to achieve with the club.

From the "rawness" of the "athletic" goalkeeper he first watched at French side Reims, to the "refined" number one she has become, Skinner has high hopes for what is next.

"Every day she finds something to get better at. The only criticism I have of Phallon is that she is over-critical of herself," said Skinner.

"We've had to stand on her shoulders so many times. When she makes a mistake, she has to stand on ours.

"She is in the perfect part of her career to go on and be the best in the world - I really do believe that.

"She has that mentality. Those people break records. Phallon is one of them."