Lauren James: ‘At first boys would ask why I’m training with them, but after a few weeks they realised’

In her first major interview, the Manchester United striker speaks about her unconventional route to becoming one of the country’s standout prospects

The 17-year-old scored 14 goals in 18 games for Manchester United last season (Getty)

“I only ever played football with boys when I was growing up,” Lauren James says, looking out over the field in Mortlake, London where her career effectively began chasing her two older brothers. The 17-year-old Manchester United striker has flourished into the standout player for her age in the country but it’s the evenings spent in this indiscernible park where the foundations were built.

For many female footballers the pathway into the game can be isolated, grappling for a place in local boy’s teams, but James’s was one always walking in great footsteps. As she watched her brothers, Reece and Joshua, playing for Chelsea and Fulham’s academies, she stood itching with a ball on the sidelines. By the age of six, the endless drills taught by her father had translated to training sessions with Chelsea’s U10s girl’s side, still so young she wasn’t even allowed to play in the team’s competitive matches.

It was the local team run by her father, though, that was the defining influence. Playing alongside Reece and the likes of Conor Gallagher and Jacob Maddox, James refined her raw ability and developed a gild of resilience that few girls her age possessed. Scouted by Arsenal as a 13-year-old, she was thrust straight into training with the boy’s team – a feat rarely heard of at teenage level – and within the space of two years was training three times a week with the first team, competing against players over twice her age.

“It wasn’t for quite a few years that I even began training properly with girls,” James tells The Independent. “It was harder playing against boys. At first, they would look at you like ‘why is there a girl training with us’? But after a couple of weeks, they realised what I could do. I’ve always been confident playing with people older than me. When you’ve been doing it all your life you don’t really think about being young,” she pauses. “Maybe that’s just the person I am.”

Eventually, though, her breakneck journey began to slow. After becoming the second-youngest player in Arsenal’s history to make their debut, James was finally forced to tread water and wait behind a squad of established senior players chasing WSL and Champions League titles. But when football is what makes you tick, everything else seems to stop without it, and James was overwhelmed by an impatience she admits she’d never previously had to deal with.

Lauren James celebrates victory at the Abbey Rangers Tournament

Her move to Manchester United and Arsenal’s resignation to losing their best academy graduate in the summer of 2018 came as a shock to many but for James it was the only natural answer. Outwardly a step down to the second tier, after a meeting with manager Casey Stoney, James was enticed by the club’s blossoming project and the possibility to play consistently and develop at the heart of it.

When someone experiences such success so early in their life, it’s easy to expect a flair or a brashness to their persona. And yet, away from the pitch, James is reserved and unassuming. The 200-mile move away from home was as great a challenge as the change of club, settling into a new environment and learning to thrive without the guidance of her father.

“It was a big change but I found it alright because Reece was nearby [with Wigan],” she explains. “My dad always put us in the best position but now I think we’re at an age where we know if we’ve played well or not, whereas before maybe we needed to be told. In general, I’m a very laid back person off the pitch. There’s not much you can do when you’re switching off from football.”

Lauren James began training with Arsenal’s first-team at 15 years old (Getty)

On the pitch, James took to life in Manchester with a breeze of confidence. In her first full season with the club, she scored 14 goals in 18 games as United achieved promotion to the WSL. This year, only 14 months after leaving Arsenal, she’ll come up against the same club she left behind to reach this level and remains one of the brightest talents in the entire league.

In a rare moment of admission that some things are better slowed down, James accepts that this summer’s World Cup had come too early for her, despite the faint whispers of a surprise call-up. “Sometimes you don’t feel the pressure and expectation but then it hits you,” she says. “When I watched the World Cup, I just thought this could be me. It was good to have the chance to watch the team in that situation but next time I want to be there. Playing for England is the pinnacle of your career.”

Lauren James in action for Manchester United Women (Getty)

The majority of players like to separate their identities as people and as footballers. For James, it feels as though the two are permanently entwined as one. She has little relish for the spotlight and traces her childhood memories through the sport. “It’s just football,” she repeats with enviable simplicity. “It’s always been football for as long as I can remember.”

She takes one last look out over the field before racing back to Euston to journey to her home now far away from here. But this unrecognisable corner of southwest London is the place that represents the beginning but also, despite not even yet celebrating her 18th birthday, the clarity of what lies at the end. “When I retire, I want to be a coach,” she says unhesitatingly. ”The training my dad did with me is what always gave me a head start. I want to be able to inspire people off the pitch too.”