ST. GALLEN – If there was a moment to capture the enigmatic essence of Lauren James, it was the mysterious celebration that followed her opening goal in the Lionesses’ 4-0 win over the Netherlands at Euro 2025. Unpredictable, understated. And yet unmissable all the same.
Those who have coached her believe that James is capable of winning a Ballon d’Or.
Simultaneously, they have struggled to pinpoint how to get the best out of her, where to play her and crucially, how to ensure that her body does not let her down.
In another life, she might already have won a major tournament with England. On her day, James can be the most potent and ubiquitous forward in the world – and by the time England lifted the Euros in 2022, she had established herself as one of the country’s most prodigious young talents.
LJ introduces herself to the Women’s EURO stage
#WEUROGOTR || @Heineken pic.twitter.com/6oYCCkivLN
— UEFA Women's EURO 2025 (@WEURO2025) July 9, 2025
When she signed for Chelsea from Manchester United in 2021, it was a then-record deal between WSL clubs.
The player who arrived at Cobham as a six-year-old, desperate to match her brother Reece, was finally coming home. It was there that her momentum ground to a halt.
She did not feature until the November of that year, made just six league appearances over the entire season and scored one goal.
Emma Hayes, then Chelsea manager, summed up the crux of a conundrum that persists to this day: “If we want Lauren to be successful, we’ve got to get everything around Lauren right.”
All the ingredients were there. Starring on the pitches of Epsom Eagles, she had benefited from a carefully cultivated youth career, steered by her father Nigel, a coach with his own training programme.
She had dazzled under Casey Stoney at United and earned her first call-up to an England squad in 2020.
But the question of exactly what was holding her back from reaching her full potential has still not been banished.
Sarina Wiegman is still wrestling with it, moving James to the right after starting her as a No 10 in the France defeat.
That switch paid dividends, but it has not entirely eliminated the sense that when it comes to utilising the Lionesses’ most gifted player, there are no easy answers.
Where does she play best?
Her trajectory has not been as smooth as it might have been partly because of the confusion over her position.
At Chelsea, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd cannot be displaced on the right, a position that Aggie Beever-Jones has also been deployed in.
Blues manager Sonia Bompastor – much like Wiegman – has tried to ensure James can still be a creative force by using her as a No 10.
The danger, as was seen against France, is that it can leave the two midfielders behind her exposed, because to allow James to flourish, she is effectively given a free role.
On the right, she is still able to cut inside, but is helped by the guidance of Chelsea teammate Lucy Bronze.
There is no question of leaving James out, however, even when she has missed so much football in 2024-25.
James’s injury record
Wiegman was willing to risk including her in the Euros squad even as she raced to be fit, a grace others might not have been afforded.
Between the period immediately following England’s Nations League game against Belgium in early April until the end of June, James managed just half an hour of football for Chelsea or England in a friendly against Jamaica.
Against France, she started brightly and tailed off – the consensus was that starting her was a mistake.
Her recent spell out was not even her only lengthy lay-off last season, with a calf injury ruling her out between October and January.
The year before that, she had four spells on the sidelines.
That is a frustrating record for any 23-year-old. It is particularly irksome for James – and her coaches – because it has become impossible to build a team around her.
That is what her teammates want to do too. “She’s unbelievable,” said Chloe Kelly of James after her two goals against the Netherlands, “so give her the ball and that’s what she’ll do.”
Bronze likewise compared her to two previous Ballon d’Or winners. “I know the likes of [Alexia] Putellas and [Aitana] Bonmati,” she said. “But LJ’s got that something special.
“She’s only young, she’s not at 100 per cent yet, so hopefully we get through the tournament and she just keeps getting better and better.”
Can James become the world’s best?
Yet she remains a player who needs protection. As an academy player, she spent a year at Arsenal and was encouraged to train with the senior side at just 14, but ultimately left because senior players were uncomfortable working with a player so young.
On far bigger stages, she has needed sheltering too. Her notorious red card in the last World Cup against Nigeria was followed by another stamp on Arsenal’s Lia Walti just months later.
Hayes believed she was being singled out by fans, insisting: “I don’t see the same level of abuse attributed to other players in the league who have had their own challenging moments.”
This week, Arsenal agreed to make Olivia Smith the first £1m signing in women’s football.
Though James has another two years on her Chelsea contract, there is no doubting she would easily eclipse that.
The feeling around James is that if all those ingredients come together, there is no limit to her potential.
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