In soccer phrases, James is a maverick. She is a match-winner and a inventive spark with an abnormally excessive degree of means.
She has been in electrical type for Chelsea in current weeks, together with scoring an audacious lob of their Ladies’s Champions League quarter-final defeat by Arsenal.
In one among her most iconic performances, James scored twice and assisted 3 times in a 6-1 win over China within the group stage of the 2023 Ladies’s World Cup.
Nonetheless, her England profession has been a combined bag, largely because of disruptive accidents, in addition to her high-profile sending off throughout England’s win over Nigeria within the final 16 of the Ladies’s World Cup.
She got here off the bench within the closing towards Spain, which the Lionesses misplaced 1-0.
However there’s a cause why James has been touted as a future Ballon d’Or Feminin winner – and when England get one of the best out of her, they normally win video games.
“LJ set the tone. All of us simply adopted,” mentioned England midfielder Georgia Stanway following a significant group-stage victory over the Netherlands at Euro 2025.
“She’s class and she or he brings one thing completely different to what we have. You give LJ the ball and you realize she goes to run by everyone and get her shot off.
“If LJ is assured, then that’s what we wish, as a result of we wish her to get pleasure from herself, to play with freedom.
“Everyone else has received to do their job to ensure that LJ to do hers.”
The largest query will not be whether or not James has what it takes – it’s the place her strongest place is for England.
She has performed on the left and proper wing, in addition to within the quantity 10 place for the Lionesses, all with various ranges of success.
For Chelsea, she has even performed as a quantity 9, however what place does Wiegman assume is her greatest for England?
Talking earlier than their win over Spain, Wiegman admitted: “That is a superb query. She’s comfy in a number of positions however I believe she prefers being on the left facet and the proper facet.
“She will play on each side as she makes use of each of her toes. What we attempt to do is to get one of the best crew on the pitch and put gamers the place they will use their strengths.
“However I do not assume it actually issues which facet LJ performs. We’ve got completely different gamers up entrance who’re in excellent type.”
