Lauren James returns to raise the biggest question of the opener of England, Euro 2025

While the players of England packed their possessions and said goodbye to friends and family in the King Power Stadium of Leicester, before they fly to Switzerland on Monday, Sarina Wiegman and her coaching staff started to consider the biggest question that remains for the opening match of England. After a sparkling, 30-minute cameo against Jamaica in their Send-Off Euro 2025, what part will Lauren James play against France on Saturday?

The biggest relief, in the first place, is that James Fit is enough to appear: after repairing a hamstring injury that saw her miss the end of the club season in Chelsea, the attacker has been able to participate in any training session of England in the past two weeks without any problems. James received her first minutes since the end of March in front of the bank against Jamaica and immediately looked at ease, sliding on the ball as if she hadn’t missed a beat. However, Wiegman said that James still builds her fitness to the France game.

That suggests that James is not yet at the stage that she can play for 90 minutes, and it will probably lead to the brightest talent in England who starts their euro campaign on the couch. However, as the Lionesses showed in their 7-0 win over Jamaica, Wiegman is blessed with options and the competition for places in the English team. Ella Toone took her chance from midfield with two goals. For her, Lauren Hemp and Beth Mead seem to be favorites to start on either side of Alessia Russo, but Chloe Kelly and Aggie Beever-Jones can both have an impact when Wiegman needs changes.

However, James is probably in front of the queue, but it is the area of ​​the field where the 23-year-old is being introduced that is probably a topic of debate under Wiegman and her staff. James got a chance in the No. 10 position against Jamaica, but she was usually used on the wing by Wiegman when she has been fit. James started on the left during the first half of the Nations League campaign of England, including the Wembley victory in Spain, before she sustained her hamstring injury, although hemp was not available at the time. When Hemp, who would rather play Wiegman on her natural side, has been fit, James usually started on the right.

That was not the case against Jamaica, where Wiegman explained her central role, an idea was that she wanted to “try out”. Two years after the World Cup, the reason why James still has to record a permanent role within the England team, is that she can play everywhere on the front four positions: her capacities and level in possession lends to the idea that England should try James as much as possible on the ball. But Wiegman has so far opposed James to make the heartbeat of her team.

It was different against Jamaica, given that the opponents of England were exhausted and apparently satisfied to give the lion ribbons as much time on the ball as they wanted. “We know that next week we should take our game to a higher level,” said Wiegman, who said her team was set up to be more “open” than normally how England expected to dominate the ball. Against France, with their midfield three and a form that reflects more from England, Wiegman will have to prepare for a much more evener, much more tactical match. Of course, the game state and whether England will need more creativity or needs more control, also influence changes in the second half.

But when James is ready to start with, and there is a chance that Wiegman will take a risk and concludes that it is this Saturday, the designation for her starting position might be in the quality of her interswing, left deliveries from the right, and the Lome way in which James can create such a bow and an almost start. It set a simple goal for Russo, and could have offered another for Mead, and left the former international English international Karen Carney’s jaw on the floor while looking at ITV. “She can do things I have never seen a player since Kelly Smith does that,” said Carney. “She’s balloon d’Or.”

England knows they have a talent. Now it is about to decide Wiegman when and where it can have its impact. “We know that there is a lot of competition going on and in midfield,” said Wiegman. “We’ll find out in recent days.”