GENEVA – In Akan, one of the principal languages of Ghana, the name Agyemang roughly translates into English as “a nation’s saviour”.
A striker who has played a total of 90 minutes across England’s five Euro 2025 matches has proven exactly that. She arrived at this summer’s tournament with a single international cap and has twice stopped the Lionesses crashing out in the most extraordinary of circumstances.
Both Chloe Kelly and Agyemang, who have become Sarina Wiegman’s go-to super-subs, are immensely popular members of the camp. Players have bonded by playing Monopoly Deal and darts, but Agyemang has also been busy focusing on her music – she grew up playing instruments at her local church in Essex.
Her piano, bass and drums have had to take a backseat as her career has taken off. In 2021, she was still at school when she was selected as a ball girl at Wembley to watch Beth Mead score a hat-trick past Northern Ireland. It was an experience that stuck.
When it comes to producing similar blockbuster moments, Chloe Kelly at least has form. The winger is England’s ultimate clutch player, the scorer of the goal that won them the Euro 2022 final – she concedes she regularly watches it back. She has been instrumental in Agyemang’s rise too, guiding her through the later stages of games when they come on together with their teammates trailing.
Their introductions against Sweden were pivotal in England coming from 2-0 down, Kelly providing two assists and Agyemang the equaliser. In Tuesday night’s semi-final against Italy, Agyemang struck deep into stoppage time to earn an extra half hour’s breathing space, before Kelly scored the winner on the rebound after initially seeing her 119th-minute penalty saved.
Two conversations behind the scenes have shaped their remarkable summers. Earlier this year, Wiegman spoke to Kelly to tell her she was being dropped for the Nations League. It was not the end of the road for her Euros hopes, Wiegman insisted, but she needed her January loan move to Arsenal to bear fruit.
Since then, she has signed permanent terms in north London after two goals and three assists in the second half of the WSL season. In the first half, she was so unhappy at Manchester City that she revealed she “felt like giving up football”.
“It makes you enjoy every minute of that [the semi-final],” Kelly said.
“Confidence comes from within but from around you as well. The players I stand side by side with on the pitch breed confidence in each other. But I think a lot of self-taught definitely happens. The people you surround yourself with, my family is really important to me and breed a lot of confidence within me.”
Wiegman’s discussions with Agyemang went a little differently. She knew she was taking a wildcard when she named her squad but believed the 19-year-old was capable of bringing something “special”. In one early training session, she was concerned the forward was being overly physical, but Lucy Bronze encouraged her to keep it up and be “aggressive”.
“She comes on, a defender’s played 90 minutes and then they have to come up against Michelle,” Bronze says. “I sure as hell wouldn’t want that to be me.”
Agyemang makes a point of not modelling herself on any other striker. She is determined to be unique. Kelly, on the other hand, admitted her celebration after her dramatic winner on Tuesday night was inspired by Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, posing with one hand on the corner flag.
Yet what makes England’s impact subs at this tournament especially unusual is their genuine willingness to play that role. That partly stems from Wiegman’s approach. Before a ball was kicked, she had spoken to each player individually to clarify how much they could expect to play. Whether they were likely to be a starter or – as she likes to term it – a “finisher”. There is no such thing as a “fringe player” in this set-up.
Like Kelly, Agyemang is genuinely just delighted to be there, not hankering for a start just yet. She considers Wiegman “like a mum” and is grateful for the trust placed in her.
“What a great player, what a bright future she’s got,” Bronze added.
“She’s such a humble, lovely down-to-earth girl. I honestly couldn’t think of a nicer person and then Chloe’s attitude, sass, confidence. Chloe’s one of those players when she’s on the pitch, no matter what the moment of the game is, or how she’s feeling how the crowd is, no matter what, she’s going to push her shoulders back, big up her chest and she’s going to go for it.”
In Sunday’s final, England would prefer not to require another rescue act – but there are few other nations with such an armoury of talent on the bench.
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