Lauren James allays Euro 2025 fitness fears: Never doubted myself

Lauren James has declared herself fit for Euro 2025 and says she never had any doubts she’d recover in time to help England defend their crown at this summer’s tournament.

The Chelsea and England star picked up a hamstring injury in England’s 5-0 win over Belgium in April. Having then missed the rest of the season, there were fears James would be an injury doubt for the tournament.

But James trained with her England teammates this week and when talking to the media on Tuesday, said she was good to go. “I feel good. I must be myself if I’m back here [at England training camp],” James said. “I never really doubted myself, because I think as soon as you have a doubt in your head, then it’s always negative thoughts.

“I always had in my head that I was going to make it. Obviously I didn’t tell people that. I took it day by day. Lucy [Bronze] and I always kept in touch. She always would say, ‘You’ll be there.’ Then obviously having that support, it always makes you kind of think, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ll be there as well.'”

James’ return will come as a huge boost to England. She is widely regarded as one of the best players in world football and has the ability to turn a match in the blink of an eye. But James is ignoring any external expectation over the impact she may have for England this summer. “I don’t really feel pressure,” James said. “I think everyone’s here for a reason. Everyone brings different qualities. That’s what makes a team.”

She impressed for England in their 2023 World Cup campaign where they reached the final. But that tournament also saw James miss the quarterfinals and semifinals after she was handed a red card for a stamp in their round-of-16 penalty shootout win over Nigeria.

“Obviously, you learn from things that may have happened in the first tournament,” James said. “You can take your learnings into this tournament.”

Bronze was sitting next to James as she fielded questions about her fitness. Bronze is both her England and Chelsea teammate and was hugely complementary about James’ ability and how she has improved.

“This season she’s improved past what other people have expected. I always knew she was capable of what we’ve seen this year,” Bronze said of James. “She’s taken her game to another level. If she’d been fit all season, Chelsea could have had an even better season and England’s results could have been better as well, because we all know that she’s that good.

“But it’s important that she looks after herself. Like she said about being injured, she’s always been focused on coming back and being 100 percent. It’s important that we’re all aware that she’s coming back from injury. She doesn’t need to put pressure on herself to win England a game because we have some of the best forwards in the world playing in the England squad. Obviously, LJ is one of them, but we have plenty of players to dig in, put in performances and get us results.”