'I hope I don't embarrass myself' - Mary Earps confession as England goalkeeper opens up on Lionesses career amid competition from Hannah Hampton ahead of Euro 2025

The two-time FIFA Best Women’s Goalkeeper made the Lionesses squad for Euro 2017 and the 2019 World Cup without getting onto the pitch. She was then left wandering in the international wilderness until being included in Sarina Wiegman’s first selection in September 2021.

Earps is a now a Euro 2022 winner with 53 caps to her name, but has told Sky Sports when asked when she felt comfortable in England camp and as though she had ‘made it’: "When I got brought back in by Sarina, I'd been out for such a long time and I remember thinking 'What if I don't have it?' I was out for what felt like an eternity, I could barely remember what an England camp felt like. I honestly went in thinking, 'I hope I don't embarrass myself'.

"I got brought into some training camps with Team GB around that time and it probably took me a few camps [to settle back in]. I think conversations and games helped that, but I never felt like 'Oh, this is mine [the No 1 spot]'.

"I'm not that type of person where I'm entitled like that. Anything can change at any time. I just wanted to play as many games and help the team as possible. I was always trying to make the most of every single moment.”

Earps, who is now playing her club football in France for Paris Saint-Germain, added: "I think being out of it makes you appreciate it even more. It felt like a bonus because I made peace with my eight caps. That's not bad - it's better than one, it's better than zero. It's something to tell the kids, and you rationalise it in your own mind, then suddenly, I'm picking up caps and I'm playing more games than I probably ever thought.

"You do lose a lot of confidence when that happens [being dropped from the team]. You think 'Well, I was just never very good'.

"I actually thought at one point I was robbing a living so to then go on and have the level of success I've had - what a bonus, what a life. No complaints from me. It's beyond anything I could ever express in words, and I just hope that I have.

"Whatever I do, I hope I've done something good with this privileged position I've been given. I don't see it as 'this is mine, I'm owed this' - not at all. Football is a crazy old game."

Earps is in no position to rest on her laurels at present, despite all that she has achieved, with Hannah Hampton providing fierce competition for England’s No.1 spot as the Lionesses ready themselves for a European Championship title defence in Switzerland this summer.