Lily Murphy: England & Man City’s Lauren Hemp-like teen learning from Lionesses star Chloe Kelly

A childhood Man City fan, Murphy could’ve actually succeeded in an entirely different sport, having represented England as a sprinter throughout her youth. Instead, it is football that she has come to the fore in, joining City at 16 years old after coming through the youth set-up at nearby Blackburn Rovers, a club which also helped develop Ella Toone, Georgia Stanway and Keira Walsh before their respective moves to the Cityzens.

Murphy has had a flurry of loans in the time since, at Stockport County, Fylde and Stoke City, all in the third-tier, scoring eight goals in 27 games across those spells. Her progress through those valuable senior experiences was well-monitored by England, as well as City, with the winger earning a first Under-19 call-up while at Stoke.

After being included on City’s pre-season trip to Australia, Murphy spent the first half of the 2024-25 campaign knocking on the door of a big breakthrough. She made her senior debut in September, in Champions League qualifying, then signed her first professional contract in early December, having started to become a regular substitute of Taylor’s.

But it was that electric display against St. Polten just before the winter break that really announced her to a wider audience, one that might not have caught much of her potential in the short appearances she was making from the bench in the build-up to that first start.

Murphy’s emergence in the senior team has been a real blessing for City while they’ve been riding out a bit of an injury crisis, particularly in attack. Miedema's return, plus Hemp and Shaw's presence on the team’s winter training camp earlier this month, will have been a real boost to fans, but their returns should not make the teenager redundant. It’s clear that she has something to offer, something which is a little different to City’s other options out wide, and Taylor will continue to turn to her as the season intensifies.

When City were trailing to Everton in their final Women’s Super League outing of 2024, it was Murphy that the coach brought on at half-time as he looked for a spark. A few days later, away at European champions Barcelona, she was his first substitution again. It’s clear that he believes in the teenager and that will do her confidence the world of good.

On the international front, things also continue to get bigger for Murphy. Her first involvement with the U19s came in 2024, with her helping the Young Lionesses to reach the next stage of qualifying for the European Championship just before Christmas.

Unsurprisingly, Murphy’s pace is the first thing that stands out about her game. She makes full use of the speed that made her a promising sprinter, and that is even more dangerous for defenders when combined with how positive and direct she is when she gets on the ball. She is not afraid to take full-backs on and is always looking to ensure any run ends in an effective action, be it a shot, a cross or a cut-back to a team-mate from the byline.

As well as her obvious ability, the teenager’s attitude clearly creates this kind of player too. “[I] just play with confidence and enjoy it,” she told club media earlier this season. “That’s when I play my best football.” Murphy’s personality is something Taylor has also remarked on, describing her as someone “really hungry to learn” and “prove herself”.

She’s versatile, too. While her running power and nice footwork make Murphy an asset out wide, she’s also capable of operating as a No.9, as she did off the bench against Barcelona. This is particularly useful for counter-attacks, given how quick she is, though that’s not often a position a No.9 finds themselves in at City.

As with most young forwards, it’s Murphy’s end product that needs more work. That it has already improved in the past year or so is a real positive in this regard, and it’s just about continuing down that track. After all, when watching the 18-year-old, you see that she gets her head up and thinks about how to end her run, assessing the options.

She has singled out England star Chloe Kelly as one of her new team-mates who has helped her in particular. “She’s obviously gone through it herself, so she knows what it’s like,” Murphy said earlier this season. “The advice is world-class. The [first-team] players are unreal. They just try to help us as much as they can, and it’s paying off.”

Another common weakness that the winger needs to address is her strength and stature, with her unsurprisingly quite a slight figure given her youth and inexperience in the senior game. That will come with age and time, as well as some hard work, and Murphy will become tougher for opposing defenders to stop when it does. She’d develop into more of an asset when tracking back, too.

Given her blistering pace, it’s really hard not to compare Murphy to Hemp. When the latter burst onto the scene, her incredible acceleration was always remarked upon, and still is. It’s common to hear Hemp’s speed described as otherworldly and without rival in the women’s game. Murphy has something similar, something that she can build upon to become as deadly and fearsome a winger. She also has the desire to run at full-backs that her Man City team-mate does.

Where the two differ is in those aforementioned areas to improve. Hemp’s end product has developed brilliantly over the years, while her strength is wildly underrated. How easily she can out-muscle defenders is rather impressive and it also makes her useful in defence, be it when tracking back or dropped into left-back, as she has occasionally been in times of need at City.

It’s just about continuing down this path now for Murphy. Minutes might become a little more limited as the likes of Miedema, Shaw and Hemp return, but it’d be a shock if she disappeared entirely from the fray, particularly given what she has shown so far. It’s through those opportunities to play - which will include the latter stages of the Champions League, the WSL title race and, City will hope, the domestic cup competitions – that she will improve her end product, after all.

On the international front, she may well get to experience her first major youth tournament in 2025, too, as the Young Lionesses bid to qualify for the U19 Euros. England have enjoyed some wonderful successes at youth level recently, reaching at least the semi-finals of the 2023 and 2024 U17 Euros, the 2024 U17 World Cup and the 2024 U19 Euros. It’s clear there is a lot of promising young talent coming through the system, and Murphy is certainly another prospect to get excited about.