Lauren James’ dad opens up on daughter’s struggles at Arsenal ahead of World Cup
Lauren James' journey as a youth team player at Arsenal was fraught with difficultly according to her father Nigel.
James, 21, is now a star for both Chelsea and England, and is currently preparing to play in her first World Cup. But her path to the top of the game hasn't been straightforward with her dad speaking about the difficulties he faced as a youth player.
Nigel, who is also the father of Chelsea men's defender Reece James, said his daughter's spell at Arsenal as a youngster was a difficult time for the future Man Utd and Chelsea forward. James was promoted to train with the Arsenal women's first team, one of the best sides in the country, but some senior players took issue with her presence around the group.
Speaking to the Beautiful Game podcast, Nigel said: "She (Lauren James) was too good to train with the Arsenal girls when she first went there. So Arsenal tried something, Pedro (Martinez Losa) who was the coach at the time, brought her in to train with the women.
"She was probably about 14 at the time. She stayed in her digs for a couple of nights and they got a tutor to teach her, so she trained with the women.
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"It was all good hearing it, but your 14 year-old daughter is now training with women who are 35, 28, they were grown women. So when you are on the pitch it is football, but off the pitch they had nothing in common.
"What people would see is this little girl. Some could take it and put their arm around her. Some couldn't take it and said 'you shouldn't be here, you should be at school.'"
Lauren James has been tipped for a huge summer in the England shirt. (Photo by Harriet Lander - The FA/The FA via Getty Images)The flying winger could make her World Cup debut for England in just a few weeks' time, after she was named in the 23-player squad by manager Sarina Wiegman. The Lionesses face Haiti in their opening game on July 22 in Brisbane, with James competing for a spot with Chloe Kelly and Lauren Hemp.
James had previously been at current club Chelsea as a youth player, before moving to Arsenal in 2014. But some of the senior players took issue with her playing alongside them while she was still a schoolgirl.
"She (Lauren) would pick up the good bits from someone and then the negative parts from others," added Nigel. "The manager left, another manager came in. There was a game she played in where the manager let her take a penalty. She took the penalty, but the next day senior players didn't like it at the time.
"They then asked for Lauren to be removed from the first team squad at Arsenal and to go back in the academy, but the solution was she train with the academy boys. This had never happened before so it was a big thing. Some parents didn't like it.
"But she was superb and did very well. At the end of the season when she was 15-and-a-half, Arsenal then said you won't be with the women you'll play with the academy girls. I saw her playing with girls her own age as sort of a demotion.
"That is why we needed to leave. Since she is back at Chelsea I know with Emma (Hayes) and her staff, she is in the best hands. Emma is like her second mother."
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