“Do you want to play for your country?” Emma Hayes asked Jess Carter. It was the summer of 2019: two years since Carter’s form as an exciting teenager at Birmingham City had won her a single England cap and, later, a move to Chelsea. But in between times the young defender had lost her way a little. Her first season had gone badly. And her manager had had enough.
“I do, but not now,” Carter replied. “I’m not ready for it.”
