Wiegman: Lauren James ‘in a good place’ ahead of Lionesses Euro 2025 opener

England manager Sarina Wiegman refused to reveal whether Lauren James will be fit enough to start their Women’s European Championship opener against France, despite sounding an optimistic note.

The Lionesses start their title defence on Saturday with a difficult Group D opener in Zurich.

Wiegman named Chelsea star James in her squad despite a hamstring injury that had kept the forward sidelined since April.

James played 30 minutes of a friendly with Jamaica last Sunday, and Wiegman expressed optimism she is ready for more of a workload.

“The team looks really good, I think we are ready, we had our last session this morning and everyone came through well,” Wiegman told her pre-match press conference on Friday.

“I think we had some good weeks where we trained, we could do some tactics and I think we are very well prepared.

“You see the bonding. We have worked really, really hard and I definitely think we are ready to go tomorrow.”

Asked about James’ fitness, Wiegman replied: “She is in a good place. As you noticed, she came on the pitch against Jamaica last week and she is ready to get more minutes tomorrow.”

But pressed on whether James could start at Stadion Letzigrund, Wiegman said: “We are not going to give you the line-up. She played 30 minutes last week and she can play more than that.”