How Lioness Lauren James could become first female Pele and brother Reece claims she’s better than some male Prem stars
ONCE upon a time little girls dreamt of being fairytale princesses and finding their happy ever after with a handsome prince.
Today they fantasise about becoming England centre-forwards . . . and bagging the winning goal in a World Cup final. Thank God.
Lauren James is leading the charge, inspiring a whole generation of females following her very own foot-perfect tournament Down Under.
“It’s what dreams are made of,” she said fittingly on Tuesday night after her two-goal, woman-of-the-match, 6-1 demolition of China, which also saw her set up three goals.
Lauren’s performance this World Cup has been nothing short of sensational. She may be a household name now, but the 21-year-old only made her senior England debut last September — so it’s been a meteoric rise.
For long-time followers of the Lionesses — of which there are now millions — her performances really aren’t that out of the blue.
As her big brother, Reece, 23 — of Chelsea and England fame — once declared: “I believe she is the best women’s footballer in the world and will be for the next ten to 15 years.
“She’s technically better than some Premier League players.”
By this, he meant the men. And he’s absolutely, categorically correct.
The Chelsea Women’s Super League star has a technical nous, brains and feel for the game like few others.
She is also refreshingly down to earth. Says one pal: “Lauren doesn’t play football for fame or money — she plays because she’s been in love with the game since the age of four.
‘First female Pele’
“She’s never ridden off her brother’s coat-tails or asked him for handouts or contacts. Instead, she’s quietly been ploughing her own field and doing all of this on her own.
“She works and trains so hard and is a hugely popular figure in the changing room.
“Lauren is only 21 and really does have the world at her feet.”
Despite her success, she doesn’t yet have the social media presence of her male sibling.
While Reece boasts 1.4million and nearly 3million followers on Twitter and Instagram respectively, his talented sibling has 205,000 and 550,000 which, in advertising and sponsorship revenue terms, is quite a gulf.
But with England now through to the World Cup final 16, and facing a game against Nigeria on Monday, Lauren’s popularity and earning potential will only rise. Already Nike-sponsored, further highly lucrative endorsement deals are sure to follow.
Celebrity agent Jonathan Shalit — who has guided the careers of stars including TV judge Simon Cowell, actor Dame Joan Collins plus singers Charlotte Church and Katherine Jenkins — tips her to become one of the game’s first multi-millionaires.
He says: “I absolutely love Lauren, who is an incredible inspiration to young sportsmen and ladies.
“If England win the World Cup, Lauren deserves to be the first £50,000 a week women’s player.
“Already she is destined to become a multi-millionaire, but she will be by Christmas if England win the tournament.
“She could be the first female Pele, and is young enough to compete in four World Cups for England, which is astonishing.
“Brands will be fighting for her — Nike to keep hold of her — and H&M, Adidas, Ralph Lauren, Chanel, MAC, Urban Outfitters, Levi’s, Calvin Klein, Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc to get her in their products.
“She has vast appeal to a huge demographic and is a supremely talented young woman.”
Unlike so many footballers, however, Lauren’s Instagram is refreshingly unflashy. Less Lamborghini on a Cannes beachfront, more grinding away on the training ground Wattbike.
Her photos are mainly trackie-bum filled, or snaps of match day action.
Lauren — promoting the World Cup in Oz, right — isn’t a fake eyelash, long-nailed, filler-filled Insta type. She’s a sportswoman. And almost every month, it seems she makes history.
For starters, never in modern top-flight football have a brother and sister represented England.
The offspring of former footballer dad Nigel — a defender who was on Aldershot’s books when he suffered a broken ankle in a motorbike accident and turned to coaching — the pair grew up playing the game together, alongside eldest brother Joshua.
In an interview with The Sun last October for Black History Month, Lauren cited tennis aces Venus and Serena Williams as her heroes.
Not so much as a whiff of influencer on her radar, then. Instead, Lauren is open about her ambitions — ones which extend beyond the touchlines. She explains: “To be a global icon and break down barriers is something that I also hope to do in the future. The credit has to go to the Williams women, as well as their father, who played a big supporting role, just like our dad.
“My dad Nigel’s Grenadian heritage has been massive in our upbringing and given us a better understanding of different cultures.
Sexist attitudes
“I am proud to have that part of me, alongside my mum being English. It is just lovely to have it all.” Lauren is rapidly garnering a huge fanbase among impressionable kids — exactly the kind of woman they should be inspired by.
Of their formative years growing up in south west London, dad Nigel proudly recalls: “It was just about playing. I used to set challenges in the back garden, and if they did well at that I’d give them 20p and then another 20p. Before you know, you’ve changed up £20 into 20ps and they’re all gone!
“It became fun. The key thing was that they were doing the right things.
“If you don’t know the standard you have to set yourself then there is no way they will improve.
“In the end they pushed themselves to get better. I was doing it as work and they came into training with me so it was like, ‘If you want to be good at this, this is what you have to do’.”
While many men in the game have been depressingly slow to back their female star counterparts, defender Reece has always been a big supporter. I interviewed him last October and, tellingly, he began the chat with talk of his sister.
He called for women to be paid more in line with male footie stars and slammed outdated sexist attitudes to women’s football. He said: “I think maybe in the last five years the women’s game has come on — especially from them winning the Euros.
“It’s put them on a much bigger stage. Most games are televised now and the women’s game is moving in the right direction. I don’t think it’s going to go backwards and that includes pay.
“As it develops, and the teams and players and quality get higher — the pay, the fans, everything will match it.
“It’s come a long way. It’s still got a long way to go.”
With heroes like his sister at the fore, it won’t be long, surely, before we finally see parity between the sexes.
Until then, it is Lauren’s time to roar.
SIBLINGS HIT THE HEIGHTS
LAUREN and Reece James are not the only siblings to represent their country at international level. And sometimes it is the women who outshine their brothers on the biggest stage . . .
ENIOLA & SONE ALUKO
ENIOLA was one of the Lionesses’ greatest forwards, scoring 33 times in 102 senior appearances for her country.
The attacker, 36, won the Women’s Super League three times with Chelsea, the women’s Serie A with Juventus, played for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics and became a TV pundit.
Her younger brother Sone, 34, played for England at youth level, but got seven senior caps for Nigeria. He is now with Championship side Ipswich Town.
RIANA & RADJA NAINGGOLAN
THE 35-year-old Belgian twins both played for Roma in Italy and represented their country at the highest level.
But heavily tattooed Radja, who was criticised for smoking, played 30 times for Belgium while Riana has just one cap.
That didn’t stop her once saying: “We kind of have the same style, only he is the male form and I’m the female form. If Radja was a girl too, I would be better.”
SIMONA NECIDOVA & TOMAS NECID
CZECH defender Simona, 29, has been capped 32 times by her country and has played in the women’s Champions League for Slavia Prague.
Her striker brother Tomas, 33, also played for Slavia Prague and scored 12 times in 44 games for his country. The siblings both continue to play as pros in their homeland.
MELANIA & MANOLO GABBIADINI
MELANIA may not have merited the huge transfer fees commanded by her younger brother Manolo – but she has enjoyed more success on the sports field.
During her career the now-retired Melania, 39, played 114 times for Italy and scored 45 goals.
Manolo, 31, has 13 caps, but proved under- whelming during a spell at Southampton after signing for £14million in 2017.