England forward Lauren James has had to bide her time for club and country – but patience is finally paying off!

Sarina Wiegman is not the first manager to play down the Lauren James hype and she will probably not be the last.

Wiegman does not like talking about individuals and had already shrugged off one question about James’ goal and player-of-the-match performance against Denmark.

So, when a second question came, there was slight irritation in her voice. ‘Yes you’re all talking about Lauren James again and she has done really well but it’s a team effort too,’ Wiegman said. ‘We’re very careful with her, she’s a very young, talented player.’

Careful is a word Chelsea boss Emma Hayes has used in relation to James. The manager was quick to downplay the forward’s sublime solo goal in a 3-2 victory over Tottenham last season. ‘Yeah it was a fantastic goal, but she has to learn to do some other things as well. We need to be patient with her.’

Excitement and expectation has followed James since she made her Arsenal debut aged 16. But there is a reason her managers have been keen to shelter her from the spotlight.

Lauren James has had to bide her time for club and country but her patience is now paying off 

England boss Sarina Wiegman is not the first manager to play down the Lauren James hype

At the age of 14 it became clear James had outgrown Arsenal’s academy. She was a big fish in a small pond. Then first team manager Pedro Lopez decided James should train with the senior team. She more than held her own in that environment, but not everyone at Arsenal was happy, as her Dad, Nigel, explained.

‘What people would see is this little girl,’ Nigel said on the Beautiful Game podcast. ‘Some could take it and put their arm around her. Some couldn’t take it and said “you shouldn’t be here, you should be at school.”

‘Your 14-year-old daughter is now training with women who are 35, 28, they were grown women. So when you are on the pitch it is football, but off the pitch they had nothing in common.’

Nigel recalled a game where James had been allowed to take a penalty, which some senior players were unhappy about. ‘They asked for Lauren to be removed from the first team squad.and to go back into the academy.’ 

The solution was for James to train with the boys academy. ‘This had never happened before so it was a big thing,’ Nigel said. ‘Some parents didn’t like it. But she was superb and did very well.’

James scored the only goal of the match as the Lionesses beat Denmark on Friday

She made a daunting move from London to the north west when Man Utd came calling in 2018

But when the season finished, James was told she would go back to training with the girls academy, rather than the women’s first team. Playing with girls her own age was seen as a demotion, as if she was being punished for being too good. 

So when Manchester United decided to launch a women’s team in 2018, a 17-year-old James made the daunting move from London to the north west. ‘It was weird at first,’ James said of her move to United last month. 

‘I was young, I was 16, without making that move, I think I probably wouldn’t be where I am now.’ 

James scored 14 goals in 18 games as United won the Championship. The day before her 18th birthday, she scored United’s first ever goal in the Women’s Super League. James flourished under the management of former England captain Casey Stoney.

She pushed James to be better, balancing praise with the right amount of constructive criticism. Importantly, when James shared racist abuse she had suffered on social media, Stoney was there to support her, both publicly and privately.

James impressed whenever she played for United and joined brother Reece at Chelsea in 2021

Emma Hayes’ management of James has worked to perfection and now England are reaping the rewards

James impressed every time she played for United and it was the worst kept secret that Hayes wanted to sign her for Chelsea, where her brother Reece plays. In the summer of 2021 James joined the Blues for £200,0000 – then record fee between two WSL clubs. 

But Hayes warned that fans would not see the forward in a Chelsea shirt straight away. James had been plagued by a number of niggling injuries at United and Hayes decided she needed a season to get fully fit. 

She played just 107 minutes of football in her first year. Any chance of James forcing her way into the England squad before the Euros was gone. When the Lionesses beat Germany in the final at Wembley, James was watching on from the stands. But she would not be a spectator for much longer.

Finally fully fit, James impressed during Chelsea’s pre-season tour of America in 2022, so much so that Wiegman called her up to her first squad post-Euros. The forward came off the bench to make her debut against Austria and has not looked back. 

She scored her first international goal against South Korea at the Arnold Clark Cup and was named player of the tournament. Many had expected her to start the World Cup opener with Haiti but was left on the bench. Wiegman gave James her chance against Denmark and the forward took it with both hands.

James scored her first international goal against South Korea at the Arnold Clark Cup

Hayes’ management of James has worked to perfection and now England are reaping the rewards.

‘Emma and her staff and everything at Chelsea has been first class,’ Nigel said. ‘I know she’s in the best hands. She had a very good coach, Casey Stone, at United, that was like a mum taking my baby from London to Manchester. Then Emma has taken over as second mama.’

Hayes and Wiegman may continue to play James’ potential and talent down, but if she keeps performing on the World Cup stage, there is little chance they will be able to do so for much longer.