Nelly Las: Chelsea's teenage summer signing out to be 'better than' Lionesses icon Lucy Bronze

Las, whose full surname is actually Lasova, has Slovakian roots, with her and both of her brothers fluent in the language. In 2006, a year before she and her twin, Noel, were born, her mother, Paula, moved to England from Slovakia with her eldest son, Tobias, and it is in the Leicester area that all three children grew up, all obsessed with football.

Las would kick a ball around with Noel while Tobias played football, until she joined her own team at the age of five. That was Beaumont Park, where she would play with the boys until she eventually joined Leicester at the age of 13. The Foxes had actually come knocking three years prior, leading to Las spending a season at the club, but her mother, whom she describes as the biggest influence on her career for her support and sacrifice, believed her daughter’s development would be better served at Beaumont Park at that time, so she soon returned there.

In the years between her two stints with Leicester, Las was turning over more and more stones in her quest to become a professional footballer. Joining a gym, lifting weights and doing one-to-one sessions with different coaches, the versatile wide player has a relentless athleticism that has become a key feature of her game, alongside her excellent technical qualities.

That helped her to establish herself as a regular in Leicester’s Under-21s at the age of 15 and has been crucial in her rise through the England pathway, with Las making the decision to represent the country of her birth on the international stage. She was part of the Young Lionesses’ side that reached the final of the U17 Euros in 2024 and the semi-finals of the U17 World Cup later in the year, and she has since represented the U19s, including at last year’s Euros, and the U20s, who have a World Cup coming up later this year.

Las' senior debut came in October 2024, when she was only 16 years old. At the time, Leicester were coached by Amandine Miquel, the former Reims boss who has played a significant role in the careers of players such as Melchie Dumornay, the talismanic forward at Lyon; Phallon Tullis-Joyce, Manchester United's No.1 goalkeeper; and Naomie Feller, the France international who has just joined Paris Saint-Germain after four years at Real Madrid. In a League Cup game against Bristol City, Las was another youngster to be given a shot by Miquel.

Sixteen more appearances would follow before the season was out, with a first senior goal coming in the FA Cup win over Stoke City and a first start following a few days later in the Women’s Super League clash with Tottenham, all before one of the biggest moments of Las’ young career to date came against Manchester City, in February 2025.

It was a tough day for Leicester, in a season made all the more difficult by injuries. With an hour on the clock, they were 3-0 down and heading out of the FA Cup. However, Las would provide a moment of joy in the closing stages when she was played in down the right to slot in her second senior goal. It was a stand-out moment in a breakthrough season that really put Las on the map as one of the top young talents in English women’s football.

The 2025-26 season wouldn’t go the same way. Miquel was surprisingly sacked by Leicester less than two weeks before the campaign began and Rick Passmoor, her successor, would give Las just five run-outs before the winter break. A loan to Ipswich Town, then-bottom of WSL 2, would come in the New Year, but game time proved even harder there, with just two appearances made.

None of that deterred Chelsea from giving Las a new career highlight this summer, though. Last week, the 18-year-old was unveiled as the Blues’ fourth summer signing, penning a four-year deal after the release clause in her Leicester contract was met.

“It feels absolutely amazing,” Las said. “It's something you dream of when you start football, to sign for a team like Chelsea and to reach a level like this. I'm speechless.”

Las’ athleticism immediately stands out as one of her best traits. She’s wonderfully quick and that puts defenders on the back foot immediately, especially because of how positive she is with the ball. The teenager is then able to back up that athletic threat with a technical one, possessing great quality on the ball.

That combination of factors made Scott Chickelday, a renowned individual coach who has worked with Alessia Russo, Ollie Watkins and Jeremie Frimpong, “desperate to work with her", he told The Athletic. “I saw her striking the ball and I thought, ‘Wow, this is going to be a special player’.”

Also notable is Las’ versatility. Used predominantly as a right-back in the England set-up, she emerged as an excellent option further forward when Leicester were dealing with a lot of injuries in attack.

"I think that her physical quality of speed and being able to repeat those high-speed actions a lot in a short number of time is definitely something making a big difference in the game now," Miquel explained.

However, it is as a wing-back, which would really suit Las’ all-round athleticism, that the French coach believes she could be at her best: "Because she can make the effort, she has got the speed and good quality of finishing and technique."

Then there is Las’ mentality. "There’s a player that wants to be a footballer and there’s a player that has to be a footballer," Chickelday said. "Nelly’s attitude is that she has to be a footballer."

Having done all that extra work, Las has adapted well to the senior game, but she can still get stronger and be more physically imposing, something that will come in time as she continues that work and is exposed to more of those battles with the WSL’s best.

She has good qualities in her one-on-one defending, which will be aided further by that physical growth, but there is still work that Las can do out-of-possession to understand when to press, when to cover and where to position herself. That is perhaps no surprise given the variety of roles she has played to date, in which the triggers and instructions are different every time, but it is something that can easily improve with further experience, especially with her mental focus and determination.

It’s hard to make a satisfactory player comparison for Las because of how differently she has been used at club and international level. While with the England youth teams she is often deployed as an orthodox full-back, the majority of her experience at Leicester came in the forward line. Miquel’s belief that the blend of her traits would make her an excellent wing-back feels accurate, but she has not played there much either.

Las’ idolisation of Bronze is evident in how well she gets up and down the wing to involve herself in attack and defence, but her burst of speed is more impactful than the Lionesses’ star while her defensive work, which is a real stand-out for Bronze, does still need some fine-tuning.

She also has things in common with Niamh Charles, who just left Chelsea for Man City. The England international first emerged as a forward before shifting into the full-back position, meaning she brings those attacking qualities to her defensive role, while ever-improving at the other end of the pitch. Again, though, she doesn’t have the same burst of speed that Las has and the teenager is certainly a more direct player, more akin to Bronze in that sense than Charles. As such, Las probably sits somewhere in the middle of these two players when looking for a decent comparison.

What Las’ first season at Chelsea looks like will be interesting. There is ample competition for the right-back role, because of Bronze and Carpenter, and breaking into a side of this quality is never easy. But the Blues will play a lot of games and any injuries could open the door for further opportunities.

Last season, Veerle Buurman was a prime example of how quickly things can change. While Chelsea’s centre-back options were stacked on paper – Millie Bright, Kadeisha Buchanan, Nathalie Bjorn and Naomi Girma among them – absences paved the way for Buurman, still a teenager, to get her chance in the New Year. She took it with both hands to stand out as one of Chelsea’s best players in the 2025-26 campaign.

Whether Las has to be similarly patient, or whether Bompastor opts to use her further forward at times as Miquel did at Leicester, only time will tell. If the 18-year-old is included in England’s squad for the U20 World Cup, which takes place in September, that will make the need for patience at club level even greater, too, as she is unlikely to be thrown right back into action in the WSL after what the Young Lionesses will hope is a long, demanding and ultimately successful month.

But Chelsea clearly see something special in Las to bring her to the club and, with Bronze only renewing her contract for a further year this summer, good progress could mean she ensures the right-back role has strength-in-depth beyond the England star’s tenure, whether that ends in 2027 or beyond.

Sarina Wiegman and the Lionesses would be happy to see Las live up to that billing, too. For several years now, conversation has rumbled on over who the long-term successor for Bronze at international level is, with no obvious candidate at the moment. Could the teenager be that? It’s a lot of pressure to put on young shoulders but she’s already said that she wants to be better than the Lionesses’ icon. Even getting close to her level would be great news for England.