Lauren James has praised Chelsea boss Emma Hayes for helping her get “back to being myself again” as the England forward heads into her first World Cup.
Having rejoined the Blues two summers ago from Manchester United, James had limited game time in 2021-22 before shining as a regular in Hayes’ team last season as they once again won the Women’s Super League and FA Cup double, and reached the Champions League semi-finals.
The 21-year-old has also impressed for England after making her debut against Austria last September, and with 11 caps and one goal for the Lionesses under her belt, James is now preparing for her first major tournament as a senior international as part of the squad for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand that gets under way in just under two weeks.
James, named young player of the year at the inaugural Women’s Football Awards in May, said of Hayes: “Emma is always helpful, she’s played a massive role in just getting me back to being myself again. She just says ‘enjoy it’, like ‘start enjoying the moments’.
“I had two years of just like constant injuries. She managed me well and it’s allowed me to find my feet again.
“In the moment everyone is like ‘why is Lauren not playing?’ and I want to be playing on the pitch, but in the long run it’s obviously paid out and it’s kept me on the pitch this season.”
James was first at Chelsea in their academy before moving on to Arsenal and then United, when they relaunched as a Championship side in 2018.
She would go on to make a big impression for a Red Devils outfit that won promotion to the WSL at the first attempt, and James said: “Without making that move, I think I probably wouldn’t be where I am now.
“People would say it was a step back because I went to the Championship, but for me sometimes it allows you to go steps forward.”
James, whose performances as England won the Arnold Clark Cup in February earned her the player of the tournament award, started Saturday’s 0-0 World Cup warm-up draw with Portugal in Milton Keynes on the right side of the attack before switching to a deeper, central role for the second half.
She says boss Sarina Wiegman has been “brilliant with me”, adding: “She’s just allowed me to express myself, and not tried to change me, which obviously plays a massive role because it allows you to just play freely and have confidence.”
James was in attendance at Wembley a year ago when Wiegman’s side won the Euros, and she said: “Going to the final, it obviously made me feel more like ‘I want to make sure I’m there’ this summer and it gave me a bit more motivation and hunger.
“I’d like to feel the same as what they felt last summer.”
While James describes herself as someone who likes to “stay grounded”, she says if England do taste glory again this summer, she will add a “big World Cup” to her collection of tattoos.
Her older brother Reece, the England and Chelsea defender, has major international tournament experience having played at the men’s Euros in 2021, and James said the advice she had received from him was to “just enjoy it, have fun, try and score goals”.
With her star very much on the rise, James has also emphasised her desire to continue making a name for herself, saying: “I do feel like that, a lot.
“Even just ‘that’s Lauren James, that’s Reece’s sister’ – I want to carve that out and be known as ‘this is Lauren James’.”
Wiegman and her England players, after departing the country on a flight on Wednesday, landed in Australia on Friday. They have a behind-closed-doors warm-up against Canada scheduled for July 14 before opening their World Cup campaign by playing Haiti in Brisbane eight days later.
Michel delighted with Girona's return to form after injury boosts
Michel puts Girona's rediscovered form down to the energy of the returning players from injury after they thrashed Espanyol in LaLiga on Saturday.
Girona had endured a shaky start to the season but moved up to fifth in the standings on 21 points after a superb home victory featuring a Bojan Miovski brace and goals by Bryan Gil and Ladislav Krejci.
Michel's side have now won their last three LaLiga matches, going on their best such run since between April and May 2024, the last time they recorded three victories on the bounce.
"Today's victory, which is our third [in a row], it's due to the fact we got people back, because we've rested, because we've had a very good week of training and because that energy today was noticeable," Michel told a press conference.
"The only thing I hope is that we continue to recover people, that we continue to have the necessary minutes for everyone and that, as we have very tough games coming up every three days, we need everyone to be at 100%; we'll see if we can achieve this without any problems."
Yaser Asprilla and Krejci, back from injury, combined for the fourth goal, but it was the pairing of Miovski and Gil who made the night with lethal attacks for the second and third goals.
"I am very happy for Miovski, he is a player who gives everything in training," Michel added. "I was worried because he wasn't scoring goals.
"He always tries to do his best for the team, he needs time. I am happy for him.
"Bryan is a very important player for everyone, his best version is yet to come. Right now, the process with him is what we all expect."
Last season's surprise package Girona face Austrian side Sturm Graz in the Champions League on Wednesday and the manager hopes they can repeat Saturday's performance in the European game.
"This is the Girona I want, 100%. We started the game very well, that's the reality," Michel added.
"The first half hour was spectacular, with and without the ball... We had a presence up front. The first half hour is what we want to do this season."
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
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