Why Wiegman was right to take this one gamble before Euro 2025
The past week hasn’t exactly been an oasis of calm for the Lionesses. Mary Earps and Fran Kirby have retired from international football, Millie Bright withdrew from selection for Euro 2025. Now, Sarina Wiegman has named her squad, and it contains a significant point of uncertainty: Lauren James has been selected despite her fitness being a doubt.
It’s a gamble, but this time, Wiegman is probably right to roll the dice.
James has not played since April. The 23-year-old has been sidelined since sustaining a hamstring injury in the Lionesses’ win against Belgium. She is still yet to return to fitness and just 30 days remain until England’s tournament gets underway.
But James is the perfect player for the big stage. She featured in all but one of England’s games at the 2023 World Cup, missing out following her quarter-final red card against Nigeria, and was instrumental in their run to the final.
That tournament feels like the distant past now, but her sublime performance across the campaign is reason enough to call her up. The wonderful strike she scored in the group stage against Denmark, the way she sailed past defenders with ease and linked play. In tournament football, you sometimes need to be able to call upon someone who can produce an individual spectacular moment to make the difference: James has all the right attributes to fill such a role.
England have lacked her trademark style when she’s been absent. Her staccato runs can turn a game on its head, stopping and starting to scan for space as she approaches a defence, constantly making goalkeepers think she is about to whip an effort into the far corner. With the ball at her feet, she is calm, composed and offers an unmatched level of unpredictability in her play.
Jess Park also plays a somewhat similar role, and both will be needed. It’s too easy to resort to taking it down the wings and hoping to get the ball back inside; James and Park are two players who take joy in taking on the opposition, weaving through back lines and creating chances. James provides the added bonus of being a proven goalscorer, being a master of striking the ball from range and having an innate ability to read the game multiple steps in advance and move into the correct areas to get into the right spaces inside the box.
A fully fit James is a crucial asset for the Lionesses. The gamble lies in the question marks over her fitness and the fact that she may have gone months without football if she is not ready in time for England’s final friendly against Jamaica later this month. Wiegman could only name a 23-player squad for the Euros, and if James is not ready, then it means she will have missed out on the opportunity to name somebody else who could possibly make an impact.
Up front, she’s selected a newcomer in 19-year-old Michelle Agyemang. The Arsenal forward has played in just one fixture for the Lionesses – a cameo from the bench in their defeat by Belgium in April – but she netted a wonderful strike in that match. At tournaments, there always seems to be a player who makes a name for themselves, someone who seizes their opportunity and changes the trajectory of their career. Many did so at Euro 2022; the now-retired Kirby did so in 2015. Agyemang could be poised to do so in Switzerland.
The selection of James is a calculated risk. If she failed to be ready in time for the tournament and instead returned later in England’s campaign, it feels like they have ample firepower to still cause a threat despite lacking one of their greatest talents. Her Chelsea team-mate Aggie Beever-Jones is one player who could fill the void should James not recover quickly enough: she netted nine times in the Women’s Super League this year and scored a first-half hat-trick in England’s win against Portugal last week. Beever-Jones is a player with more dynamism than James, someone who prefers to constantly charge forward at speed instead of being a more calculated presence, but she is equally dangerous to defences.
James, Beever-Jones and Agyemang are among the clear winners following the squad announcement. The likes of Park and Grace Clinton could also be placed in that category, although they seemed more likely to be called up.
Where there are winners, though, there are always losers: 31-year-old forward Nikita Parris has missed out, but over time, she has fallen to the fringes of this Lionesses team and has not performed as well as the others recently for either club or country.
At the back, England seem strong enough to be able to cope without Bright’s presence. Alex Greenwood and Leah Williamson have made for a solid partnership at centre-back, Wiegman seems set on playing Lucy Bronze and Niamh Charles as the full-backs in a back four. Manchester United’s Maya Le Tissier has played well for her club this season and could come in if needed, while Jess Carter proved a good option at the World Cup. Lotte Wubben-Moy has also regularly had minutes for her country.
There is a potential issue with James’s selection, but England can probably fill the gap if needed. Their defence should be able to work well enough without Bright. Wiegman’s hands were tied over her goalkeeper selection following Earps’s retirement.
The only other concern comes in midfield, where England feel somewhat light on numbers. Only five out-and-out midfielders have been named, and apart from Keira Walsh, there aren’t that many options who could play in defensive midfield. The Lionesses boss will have to hope her side can avoid any unwanted injuries or call upon the standby midfielders. There is also the option – if it comes to it – of playing one of her defenders higher up the pitch. Bronze or Williamson could possibly push further up and the other defensive options could slot in at the back.
There weren’t too many selection headaches for Wiegman. She has selected a team that should be able to adapt and take risks where needed. Now, she has the tricky job of working out how to turn all of her options into a workable starting line-up.
First cases of Covid variant NB.1.8.1 detected in England
The first cases of a new Covid-19 variant have been detected in England as the virus spreads across Britain, the UK’s health agency has confirmed
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said 13 cases of Covid strain NB.1.8.1 had been recorded in England, with “small numbers” detected across the UK.
It’s unclear how many cases of the new strain, which now account for just over 10 per cent of global infections, have been recorded in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Since first being recognised in January 2025, the omicron variant has spread to several states across the US, Australia, Thailand and is the most dominant variant in China and Hong Kong.
UKHSA deputy director Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam said it was unlikely to pose more severe disease than other variants.
Common symptoms align with typical Omicron subvariants and include fatigue, fever, muscle aches and a sore throat, according to the World Health Organisation.
But given the dwindling number of people testing for Covid-19, it has become increasingly difficult to know the true number of infections.
The World Health Organisation has designated the NB.1.8.1 as a “variant under monitoring”, and comprises around 10.7 per cent of all submitted sequences worldwide.
While it first appeared in samples at the beginning of this year, data from GISAID, a global data of genetic sequences of major disease-causing viruses, show that the first known cases were registered at the end of April.
Current Covid jabs are expected to remain effective against this variant and protect anyone infected from severe illness.
Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, UKHSA deputy director, told The Independent: “It is normal for viruses to mutate and change over time. UKHSA is monitoring all available data relating to SARS-CoV-2 variants in the UK and abroad, and we continue to publish our findings in our regular Flu and COVID-19 surveillance reports.
“NB.1.8.1 has been detected in small numbers in the UK to date, but international data suggests that it is growing as a proportion of all COVID-19 cases.
“Based on the available information so far however, there is no evidence to suggest that this variant causes more severe disease than previous variants, or that the vaccines in current use will be less effective against it.”
Liz Truss lashes out at Tories for apologising over her disastrous mini-budget
Liz Truss has lashed out at the Conservatives after the party formally apologised to the public for her disastrous so-called mini-budget.
The former prime minister said Tory shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride “kowtowed to the failed Treasury Orthodoxy” and had worked to undermine her as prime minister.
“My plan to turbocharge the economy and get Britain growing again provided the only pathway for the Conservatives to avoid a catastrophic defeat at the election,” Ms Truss claimed.
It came as Sir Mel made a speech in which he promised the Conservatives will “never again” make spending pledges the government cannot afford.
Attacking Ms Truss over her chaotic premiership, Mr Stride said: “The credibility of the UK’s economic framework was undermined by spending billions on subsidising energy bills and tax cuts, with no proper plan for how this would be paid for.”
“For a few weeks, we put at risk the very stability which Conservatives had always said must be carefully protected,” Sir Mel added.
He also used it as a platform to attack Nigel Farage and Reform UK who he claimed were pursuing the same reckless path.
He said: “The Conservative Party needs to shine the light of truth on what Reform is all about.”
Sir Mel claimed that Reform’s plan to raise the income tax threshold to £20,000 would cost “between £50bn and £80bn.”
He added: “To contextualise that, that is something between about third and a half of what we spend on the National Health Service.”
Instead he said his party would launch commissions to look at how to “rip up” red tape and bring down taxes calling for a “period of thoughtfulness” to consider a new “responsible radicalism” for the Tories.
But his focus was on Ms Truss’s tenure in Downing Street which lasted just 49 days after her disastrous mini-budget triggered market turmoil and saw the pound tank to a 37-year low against the dollar.
Ms Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced the biggest raft of tax cuts for half a century in the September 2022 statement, but were quickly forced to climb down over their plan to scrap the top rate of income tax for the highest earners.
She has since admitted her plan to cut the 45p top rate of tax may have gone too far, but insisted it was not fair to blame subsequent interest rate rises on her mini-budget.
As well as spooking markets with the tax cuts themselves, the former PM added to the uncertainty by shunning the usual forecasts from government spending watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), essentially leaving investors in government debt flying blind on the state of the public finances.
But, attacking Mr Stride for calling her legacy into question, Ms Truss said: “Mel Stride was one of the Conservative MPs who kowtowed to the failed Treasury Orthodoxy and was set on undermining my Plan for Growth from the moment I beat his chosen candidate for the party leadership.
“Even when judged by the OBR’s flawed calculations, my plans were chalked up as costing less than the spending spree Rishi Sunak pursued as Chancellor during the pandemic – yet Mel Stride never took him to task over any of that.”
The ex-PM called on Mr Stride to apologise instead on behalf of Rishi Sunak, whose government she said raised taxes to a 70-year high and pursued “unaffordable” net zero policies.
Terry Jermy, who unseated Ms Truss at the general election, overturning her 26,195 majority, said: “The conservatives have finally disowned Liz Truss’ record, my constituents of South West Norfolk did so much quicker.
“The fact it has taken them nearly three years after she wiped £30 billion from the exchequer shows they are not the party of the economy.”
Turning his aim on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK after its gains in last month’s local elections, Mr Stride said: “Take Reform. Their economic prescription is pure populism. It doubles down on the ‘magic money tree’ we thought had been banished with Jeremy Corbyn.”
And Reform deputy leader Richard Tice said: “We’ll take no lectures on economics from a party that more than doubled the national debt, raised taxes and government spending to 70 year highs and shrank economic growth to 70 year lows.
“Meanwhile we unearth Tory-run councils wasting £30 million on a bridge to nowhere. They can never be trusted again.”
The Liberal Democrats accused the Conservatives of attacking Mr Farage’s party for “the same fantasy economics” they had pursued “while secretly plotting a pact with them” as they branded the speech “absurd”.
Deputy leader Daisy Cooper MP said: “It’s insulting that the Conservatives think a few warm words will fool people into forgiving them for all the damage they did to the economy and people’s livelihoods.
“Families are still reeling from the Conservatives’ lockdown law-breaking and still paying the price after their mini budget sent mortgages spiralling.
“Now the Conservatives have the cheek to criticise Reform UK for the same fantasy economics while secretly plotting a pact with them: it’s absurd.”