England boss Wiegman ‘makes decisions to win’

England women manager Sarina Wiegman says she ‘makes decisions to win’ when quizzed on the reaction to former number one Mary Earps’ recent book.

Earps retired from Lionesses duty before last summer’s Euros win and was critical of the decision to replace her with Hannah Hampton.

Wiegman says there are no divisions in the camp as she named a squad to play China and Ghana in upcoming friendlies.

She said: “That’s her [Mary Earps’] book, there’s been a lot of response on it. I don’t think I can react more because there’s a lot of private conversations that I always keep private.

“I feel good. We have conversations with different players all the time. What my reality is and what someone else’s reality is can be different because how you experience things is very individual. I just know what I want to do is create an environment where we speak up and have clarity.

“Also, I make decisions to win. And what I’ve said all the time is that we had two incredible goalkeepers and at the end I made that decision to the one I came to and that’s what it is for me.

“What I should say also is I really, really enjoyed working with Mary [Earps]. She’s retired now. We had incredible times and I’ll always cherish that.

“What I’ve tried to do is to be as honest as possible and have a really good working relationship and I think we had that. I can’t control the other things. So I just stick with what I want to do, how I want to do it, and to be as clear as possible and to make decisions to win.”

Forward Lauren Hemp has returned to the England squad for the first time since the Euros.

London City Lionesses’ forward Freya Godfrey has a first call up, as do uncapped goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley, defenders Anouk Denton and Grace Fisk.

England squad

Goalkeepers: Sophie Baggaley (Brighton), Khiara Keating (Manchester City), Anna Moorhouse (Orlando Pride).

Defenders: Lucy Bronze (Chelsea), Niamh Charles (Chelsea), Anouk Denton (West Ham), Grace Fisk (Liverpool), Taylor Hinds (Arsenal), Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United), Esme Morgan (Washington Spirit), Lotte Wubben-Moy (Arsenal).

Midfielders: Laura Blindkilde Brown (Manchester City), Grace Clinton (Manchester City), Missy Bo Kearns (Aston Villa), Lucia Kendall (Aston Villa), Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich), Ella Toone (Manchester United), Keira Walsh (Chelsea).

Forwards: Aggie Beever-Jones (Chelsea), Freya Godfrey (London City Lionesses), Lauren Hemp (Manchester City), Chloe Kelly (Arsenal), Beth Mead (Arsenal), Jess Park (Manchester United), Alessia Russo (Arsenal).