There has been a lot of hype around Lauren James for a very long time. This is a player who was training with Arsenal's first team at the age of 15, debuted for the club a year later and helped fire Manchester United into the top-flight in the same season that she celebrated her 17th birthday.
Given the pace at which her senior career began, not many predicted it would take until just a few weeks before she turned 21 for James to win her first senior England cap. But there have been some bumps in the road on the way to her first Women’s World Cup this summer.
All of those experiences, good and bad, will help to mould this prodigious young talent into a top, top footballer, one whose technical abilities are already talked up in a remarkable manner. It’s hard at times not to get carried away because of some of the things she does on the pitch.
But it is important to remember that James is still just 21, that she is only now heading to her first major tournament and that she is still so new to the very highest level.
She clearly has an X-Factor that few do. So, how can that help England in their quest to win the World Cup?
