Euro 2025: England’s Michelle Agyemang ‘not listening to noise’

ZURICH – England’s Michelle Agyemang is trying to ignore the growing hype around her and said all of the pressure she feels, is the pressure she puts on herself.

Agyemang, 19, was the surprise inclusion in the England squad for Euro 2025. Before the squad was named, her sole involvement for the Lionesses was coming on as an 80th-minute substitute against Belgium on April 8. Just 41 seconds into that match, she scored a wondergoal, announcing herself on the world stage.

Agyemang spent last season on loan at Brighton from Arsenal and now has major tournament minutes to her name after Wiegman turned to her in the 86th minute of their defeat to France on Saturday. Agyemang’s impact was instantaneous, again, as her presence in the France box off a corner created space for Keira Walsh to score what turned out to be a consolation goal.

There’s been plenty of excitement around Agyemang’s potential, especially from within Arsenal where she’s been a talent they’ve kept a close eye on from a young age. But now she’s becoming increasingly well-known on the world stage with a weight of expectation coming with that.

“To be fair, for me, in terms of pressure, I think most of the pressure comes from myself,” Agyemang said. “I don’t try to listen to the noise. I appreciate the support from everyone. I think focusing on what I can do is most important, and then the noise will come around no matter what happens.

“But I think for me, just focusing on how I can improve my game and how I can help the team is my most important thing.”

Agyemang is working on improving her consistency. “Like when I get on the pitch, being able to be as effective in minute one, even if that’s the last minute of the game, or if I’m starting, getting that consistency from minute one to 90, just being able to affect the game from minute one to the end of the game.”

Against France, Wiegman’s message to her was simple: “Just go and change the game.”

“I think most people will say when they work with Sarina, she’s like a mum to us almost,” Agyemang said. “Like she cares about our well-being, she knows how to turn it on when we need to improve our quality, for example, in training. She’s ready to step in and tell us ‘that’s not good enough, let’s be better.’ So I think she has that fine balance and she’s put a lot of trust in me, which I’m really grateful for.”

Looking ahead, while Agyemang has enjoyed watching England and Arsenal legend Kelly Smith in the past, and turns to Alessia Russo for advice in training with the Lionesses, she wants to stay true to herself as she develops her game.

“Over the last season like I’ve been playing across the front three, so no matter where I am I want to be effective and I guess in terms of number 9, it’s about scoring goals, so that’s what I want to do,” she said. “And in terms of mirroring my game, I think I want to be a unique player. So obviously there’s things I’ll take from other people, but I want to be my own type of player and bring my own type of input to the game.”