England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton is to leave Aston Villa when her contract expires at the end of this month, the Women’s Super League club have announced.
The 22-year-old, who joined Villa in the summer of 2021 after leaving Birmingham, has been linked with Chelsea.
Hampton made 43 appearances in all competitions for Villa and helped Carla Ward’s team achieve a fifth-placed finish for the 2022-23 WSL season. The in-form Hampton produced five clean sheets out of her 15 WSL league matches this past season.
Capped twice at senior international level, she was part of the England squad that won the European Championship on home soil last summer.
She received her first call-up since that tournament in March, with Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman saying Hampton had "needed to sort out some personal issues (and has) done that" and praising her form.
She has subsequently been included in Wiegman’s 23-player squad for this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The call up is a great step forward as many saw Hampton on the fringe of making the Lionesses squad.
Hampton is joining fellow Women’s Super League goalkeepers Mary Earps of Manchester United, the undisputed No.1, and Ellie Roebuck of Manchester City, who are also making the journey Down Under. Hampton was ecstatic with her selection, telling her local paper, the Lichfield Live, “From a little girl playing football to being selected to represent my country at a World Cup is a dream come true and a huge honour.”
With Hampton in the squad, the Lionesses aim to build upon their successful Euro’s campaign in 2022, which concluded with a victory over Germany to win the trophy, marking the first-ever win for the Lionesses first in their history.
The England squad enter’s this year’s World Cup with sky-high expectations, coming in as the bookmakers’ second most likely team to win the illustrious tournament. Meanwhile, the United States enters the tournament as the favorites, coming off of two straight World Cup titles.
Hampton and the Lionesses look to build off of their past strong World Cup performances, where the talented squad reach back-to-back World Cup semifinals.
Additional reporting by PA
