Who is Jess Carter? England defender in profile

Chelsea star could benefit from Leah Williamson’s absence and lingering doubts over clubmate Millie Bright’s fitness to play a key role at heart of Lionesses’s defence

With England missing Leah Williamson for the World Cup, Jess Carter is likely to find herself with more first-team opportunities in Australia and New Zealand than she might otherwise have expected.

The Chelsea defender, 25, has been part of a solid backline with Bright and Magdalena Eriksson for the West London club in the past and would make an able stand-in alongside Alex Greenwood or Esme Morgan should her teammate not prove ready in time.

That said, Carter has more often been deployed at left-back in recent games, notably in the friendly defeat to the Matildas and in the Finalissima penalty win over Brazil, following Rachel Daly’s shift to centre forward after a remarkable goalscoring season.

Born in Warwick, Carter possesses joint British and American citizenship thanks to her father but has represented England since under-17 level, eventually making her senior debut as a substitute for Lucy Bronze in a 5-0 thrashing of Kazakhstan in 2017.

She now has 18 caps and one goal to her name.

At club level, she graduated from Warwick Juniors to Birmingham City, where she firmly established herself before signing for Chelsea in 2018.

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Carter has grown into one of the best one-on-one defenders in the Women’s Super League, winning several titles with Chelsea, while she also proved her ability on the biggest stage this season.

The versatile defender impressed when given one of the toughest tests in world football, as she went up against Barcelona and Norway star Caroline Graham Hansen in the Champions League semi-finals.

Carter is in a relationship with Chelsea teammate and Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger.