'Watching Love Island on a flight!' - Lionesses newcomer Poppy Pattinson reveals why she missed Sarina Wiegman's call after earning first senior England invite

England have been able to welcome back a lot of players for next week's fixtures, after missing so many key names in the friendlies that followed last summer's Euro 2025 triumph. Leah Williamson, Lauren James and Hannah Hampton are among those who missed out on the Lionesses' final two fixtures of last year who are able to come back into the fold as they kickstart their World Cup qualifying campaign, but it is not all good news.

As well as Ella Toone and Beth Mead, Chelsea left-back Niamh Charles remains sidelined and with fellow full-backs Lucy Bronze and Taylor Hinds only just returning to action, Wiegman has opted to bring in a new face to bolster that position in Pattinson - though the London City defender did initially miss her call, as she has now revealed.

Speaking to reporters this week after earning her first senior England call-up, Pattinson was asked where she was and what she was doing when the phone rang to give her the news. "I was actually on a flight," she said. "I feel like everyone has a story when it comes to this, but I was actually on a flight, so I missed the call. When I landed, I saw the missed call and a message from Sarina asking me to call her back.

“So, obviously, you can imagine the people next to me [are] probably thinking I was just chilling, watching Love Island on the flight. And then when I landed I’m just like, ‘Oh my God.’ It was tense, obviously, waiting for everyone to get off the plane. I’m thinking, 'Please, come on, get your stuff,' but then I got into the airport, called her back, and I’m just super proud. She was congratulating me and inviting me into the camp."

Pattinson is by no means unknown to Wiegman and her staff. The 25-year-old was regularly involved with the England youth national teams earlier in her career and was playing for the Under-23s as recently as 2024, having won caps at essentially every level prior to that. She's also been a regular in the Women's Super League, turning out consistently for Bristol City, Everton and Brighton before joining London City, having broken through at Sunderland and earned a move to Manchester City as a teenager.

So, given the absence of Charles and the limited game time Hinds has seen recently means options at left-back are limited for England in this camp, it makes sense for Wiegman to turn to Pattinson and give her an opportunity to show what she can do, having enjoyed a string of starts for London City in recent weeks following an injury early in the season.

Wiegman has been impressed with what she has seen from Pattinson since the turn of the year, too, and when announcing her squad last week, she picked out some of the traits in the 25-year-old's game that she likes and wants to see in England's environment.

"We've followed her for a long time," the Lionesses' boss said. "She's been fit now for a while, she's played and I think she's had some very good performances with London City Lionesses. She's a left full-back, very proactive, she's across the whole wing, takes a lot of initiative and what I really like, too, is that in possession, she really wants to play forward. She's very energetic also."

Pattinson is keen to show all of that with whatever opportunities she gets next week, too, adding: "I’m fully aware there’s some great players in this team but I want to bring my strength to the team. I want to add what I can. Obviously, this is the first step, getting the call-up, but I don’t want it to be the last. I want to learn a lot. There are some big players and talented players in the group. [I want to] learn from the leaders around me and enjoy it, most importantly, and express my strengths on the pitch."