England’s Euro 2025 squad revealed as Lauren James and Michelle Agyemang make the 23-player squad
Some thoughts on the 23 players that have been chosen by Sarina Wiegman for the squad competing at this summer’s Women’s Euros in Switzerland.
So we now know who the 23 players are that make up England’s squad for next month’s European Championships in Switzerland and two of the notable players involved are Lauren James and Michelle Agyemang, plus it is a lighter midfield that Sarina Wiegman has gone with as just five midfielders have been selected.
Compared to the squad that competed in 2022 and won the whole tournament, nine players in that team aren’t included with five of them having retired. Also, seven of the eleven who started the final against Germany are a part of Wiegman’s 23-player squad.
Overall, this is a squad that doesn’t have a lot of tournament experience in it, with a few players set for their major tournament debuts at senior level for England. It’s definitely going to have to be something managed by Sarina Wiegman and also the fact that three very experienced names pulled out in the last week. Mary Earps and Fran Kirby of course is due to them both retiring from playing international football, and Millie Bright’s reason was so that she can prioritise her health.
Here is the full squad in detail:
Goalkeepers | Hannah Hampton (Chelsea), Khiara Keating (Manchester City), Anna Moorhouse (Orlando Pride)
Defenders | Lucy Bronze (Chelsea), Leah Williamson (Arsenal, Alex Greenwood (Manchester City), Niamh Charles (Chelsea), Jess Carter (Gotham FC), Lotte Wubben-Moy (Arsenal), Esme Morgan (Washington Spirit), Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United)
Midfielders | Ella Toone (Manchester United), Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich), Keira Walsh (Chelsea), Grace Clinton (Manchester United), Jess Park (Manchester City
Forwards | Lauren Hemp (Manchester City), Lauren James (Chelsea), Chloe Kelly (Arsenal, on loan from Manchester City), Beth Mead (Arsenal), Michelle Agyemang (Brighton, on loan from Arsenal), Alessia Russo (Arsenal), Aggie Beever-Jones (Chelsea)
In terms of inclusions, there aren’t any players in there that are too surprising in terms of their selection. Lauren James had been a doubt due to the fact that she was out with a hamstring injury and had not featured for England since April, but she has been included which is a good thing to see.
Also, Michelle Agyemang being in the team is a little bit of a wildcard addition as she has only made one appearance for the national team at senior level, which was of course in the 3-2 defeat to Belgium but Agyemang impressed off the bench and scored that brilliant goal just 41 seconds into her debut.
The idea will be that both Lauren James and Michelle Agyemang have the ability to be two players who can be exciting and also game-changing options for England, which will be key across the tournament. For James, we won’t yet know how her match fitness will be until we hopefully see her feature in a warm-up friendly against Jamaica on the 29th June.
It will be interesting to see what the minutes are like for Michelle Agyemang as well as one of seven forwards in the squad, but what’s more likely is that she is the main cover for Alessia Russo as central striker. We didn’t see her play in either of the Portugal or Spain matches in this recent international window, so that does make us think that game time could be limited.
If we look at other areas of the squad, the three goalkeeping choices Hannah Hampton and the two uncapped keepers Khiara Keating and Anna Moorhouse are the choices and many of us would have expected them to have been chosen.
Defensively, with no Millie Bright in the squad it does mean that other central defenders have been given a place, with Lotte Wubben-Moy getting a spot as well as Maya Le Tissier alongside regulars in the England squad Leah Williamson, Alex Greenwood, Jess Carter and Esme Morgan. Lucy Bronze and Niamh Charles are the only fully recognised wide full-backs in the squad, but many of the other defenders are versatile enough to play out wide if needed.
The midfield five of Keira Walsh, Georgia Stanway, Grace Clinton, Ella Toone and Jess Park is interesting because it does feel like limited options in an area that has had questions surrounding it.
As we have said previously, Walsh and Stanway are likely to be starters even with Stanway still finding match fitness after being out with an injury for a long time. Ella Toone has the tournament experience, but Clinton and Park have done well in terms of form at times this season a bit more than her, so it will be interesting to see how that all is managed and the midfield three Sarina Wiegman decides to go with.
As touched on already with the forwards, if she is fit then Lauren James should play in this team given her qualities and because of the impact she can have in games that others can’t in a similar way. Whether we see her out wide or centrally is up for debate, but Lauren Hemp, Beth Mead, Chloe Kelly and Aggie Beever-Jones will compete for the wide area starting places. Alessia Russo and Michelle Agyemang make up the forward players.
In terms of absences from the squad, Nikita Parris and Missy Bo Kearns miss out having been included recently in the squad for the Nations League games. Missy Bo Kearns even played some minutes for her first senior cap against Spain, but it seems that she didn’t do enough to make the team.
However, a good thing for her is that she is on the standby list which includes her Aston Villa teammate Lucy Parker, Brighton’s Sophie Baggaley and Manchester City’s Laura Blindkilde Brown.
How far can this team go in the tournament?
Ultimately, this is what the big question will be in the coming weeks and if we’re talking personally here. I’m not sure I see it at the moment, and I think there are a combination of reasons as to why that is.
There is a lot of chat around at the moment whether there is a little bit of a crisis going on because of the three high-profile players who have either retired from international football or withdrawn from this upcoming tournament. It’s intriguing to think about whether this is something that could unsettle things, even though Sarina Wiegman has talked in press conferences about the atmosphere in camp being a ‘happy’ one.
Millie Bright’s absence is the one that will have the biggest impact on the team in my opinion because she has had a great season at Chelsea where she had pretty much stayed injury-free. But in doing so would have led to the match-load catching up and also why she would have felt that a break was needed just so that she can stay in the right frame of mind. It’s unfortunate for England, but everyone has to respect her for taking that choice.
Now obviously we don’t see what goes on in camps so this could easily be just pre-tournament hysteria going on, and it is a pretty normal thing for it to happen at major tournaments, which can also be that it has come about as we see more of an increased visibility on things that go on and become more judgemental of that. Ultimately though once the tournament begins, that’s when all the judgements and opinions will be on the team itself and the performances.
As we know, England are in a strong group alongside France, Netherlands and debutants Wales. So if they are going to make it out of the group, they will have to be playing at a high level. Plus if there’s a scenario where they do progress to the knockouts, where they finish in the group could have an impact on their progression throughout the tournament.
Everything will have to click for the Lionesses come the start of the tournament. But if it doesn’t, then there is a major risk of a group stage exit for the defending champions and questions would surely be asked if that did happen.
The squad is a good one with lots of quality amongst it despite some of the inexperience within it as well. Is it one capable of winning a major tournament? I don’t think it’s one that could win one right now, but I would be more than happy to be wrong on this occasion.
How do you feel about the England Euro 2025 squad? How far do you think they go in the tournament as well?