‘I think it was in me from when I was young,” says Lauren James of the fierce competitive drive that has taken her from playing football with her brothers, Josh and Reece, in a park behind their house in Mortlake, south-west London, to England’s opening match of Euro 2025 against France in Zurich on 5 July. The 23-year-old returns from injury as the most likely catalyst for England’s hopes of remaining European champions because she has the skill and tenacity to be one of the tournament’s standout players.
“It helped playing with my brothers all the time,” James says as she reflects on a footballing journey when her prodigious talent has blossomed with Chelsea and England while being tested by insidious abuse and racism. We need two interviews to get a little closer to the tangled heart of her story, but her natural reticence and reluctance to open up deserves respect.
