Hemp is Lionesses’ quiet star but she’s ready for Euros centre stage

Lauren Hemp wanders into a padel club in Manchester on a sunny Saturday afternoon to very little fanfare.

She’s greeted at the door by the owner, but beyond that, people are too preoccupied with the sweaty battles going on inside their glass cages to pay much attention to what’s going on outside – or to the Manchester City and England footballer who has just walked into their midst. And this is just the way Hemp likes it – without too much fuss.

‘I do get nervous speaking,’ Hemp says as she sits down to talk with Mail Sport, which is perfectly understandable. The women’s game has grown at a breakneck pace, and many players are still growing accustomed to the intense media scrutiny that comes with being an England player.

‘I feel like on the pitch is where I feel most comfortable,’ she says. ‘When I get on the pitch all my nerves go away, and I feel so confident – that’s the way I express myself.

‘Off it, I feel like I’m quieter, more reserved. I get on with everyone I meet, but I don’t take centre stage. I’m not one to put myself out there. I’m pretty chilled and laid-back. But then when I’m on the pitch, it feels like something just changes. A spark ignites in me.’

The problem is, Hemp deserves far more recognition. At just 24, she’s already a European champion and World Cup finalist. She’s the youngest player to reach 50 goals in the Women’s Super League (WSL), has won a record four consecutive PFA Young Player of the Year awards – more than anyone in the competition’s history, male or female – and was nominated for the Ballon d’Or last year. Add an FA Cup and League Cup to that list for good measure.

Those who follow the women’s game closely understand just how vital Hemp is to the Lionesses’ hopes of defending their Euros title this summer. After playing every game of the Euro 2022 success in her first major tournament, including whipping in the corner for Chloe Kelly’s final winner, her star has been on an infinite, upward trajectory. Yet her quiet nature off the pitch has often left her overshadowed in the wider public eye, as louder personalities have dominated the spotlight.

That said, a fully fit and fired-up Hemp is really all England need. At just 5ft 5in, she’s one of the quickest players in the game. When Mail Sport asked the Lionesses which teammate they’d back for pace, the response was unanimous: ‘Hempo’.

Her directness is refreshing at Manchester City, where the team’s possession-heavy style can sometimes test the patience of fans. A naturally left-footed winger with extraordinary ball-carrying ability, Hemp never shies away from taking on defenders – and whenever she gets on the ball, seats inevitably start to bang. Hemp topped the WSL assist leaderboard for the second consecutive time this season – an incredible feat given she spent half of it on the bench, playing just 10 of the 22 league games.

And when she’s not setting up her England or City teammates, Hemp is scoring the goals herself – her opener in the 2023 World Cup semi-final against Australia was one of the tournament’s defining moments.

Asked what she attributes her meteoric rise to, Hemp replies: ‘I don’t know. I feel like whenever I get accolades like PFA Young Player of the Year, one thing I haven’t done – which I wish I maybe did do – was celebrate it. I’ve always thought, “You won that, nice one, right on to the next.” I’ve always thought about the thing after.

‘I’ve made the Ballon d’Or list, and now I want to get one step closer. Things like that – just taking every game as it comes, and every accolade that I get along the way is great, and I want to win as many trophies as I can. Equally, I don’t put too much pressure on myself. I remind myself that I love playing football, and that’s how I perform at my best.’

Hemp’s sporting prowess

When we meet at The Padel Club near the Trafford Centre, Hemp unexpectedly arrives dressed in jeans. Having only recently returned from injury, she wisely decides to sit out – unwilling to risk the summer ahead. Still, padel has become a part of her life, and just talking about it stirs her natural competitiveness.

‘There’s a padel court near where I live and me and my girlfriend (former Liverpool player Ashley Hodson) tried it one day. Turns out I was actually quite good. I let her be on my team and we took two other players on,’ she says, grinning.

‘I used to like tennis as well. I think I’m one of those annoying kids that was good at every sport. But it’s nice to get together and do something other than football. I play a lot with my City teammates.’

The Norfolk native is under-selling herself. She was more than just ‘good’ at other sports – she might have gone on to play cricket professionally. As for football, it was only because her dad used to take her to Norwich to watch her older sister Amy – a promising youth footballer whose career was cut short by double ACL injuries – that she ended up giving it a try.

‘I wasn’t really interested in playing football, to be honest. I’d be on the sidelines, not even watching the game. But when I was around seven, my dad took me to a trial, and I just joined in with my sister for a bit. Turned out I was actually pretty decent,’ she laughs.

‘As a kid it was always cricket in the summer, football in the winter. But as I got older, football became more of a full-time thing and I couldn’t commit to both.

‘It got to the point where I had to make a choice. When I was 15, Norwich City’s Girls’ Centre of Excellence – where I was training – shut down, and I had to think seriously about my future and how to get the best out of myself.

‘There weren’t any teams around me where I was going to be able to keep playing football, so I took the decision to join Bristol City, but I was really sad to stop playing cricket. I’d even started going to England camps – little weekend things – for cricket as well.’

After two standout seasons at Bristol – where she was named PFA Young Player of the Year in her debut WSL campaign – Hemp moved to Manchester City in 2018, and the focus has remained firmly on football ever since.

Return in time for Switzerland 

Now we turn to this summer’s Euros and the difficult, drawn-out rehab that nearly cost her a place.

‘I tore my meniscus last November. I had a scan on it, and I was told I was going to be out for two to three months with a repair. I got it repaired and I was coming back, I was back on the pitch and I was feeling good, feeling confident,’ she says.

‘And then it was getting a bit irritable when I was out on the pitch and I thought, “This is a bit weird”. I was coming up to being ready to play. I had a scan and I was told I had to get a re-surgery. 

‘The recovery was a lot less than the time I had originally – it was around four to six weeks – but I ended up being out for a lot longer than I thought it would be. It was about six months in total.

‘The bit that was probably the hardest was thinking that I’m so close to being back and then that being taken away – and then feeling like I was back to square one, even though it wasn’t. That was probably the hardest part. Because if I’d been told at the start it was going to be six months, I’d have been able to mentally prepare myself for that. But when you’re on the way back and you’re thinking that you’re nearly there – that was tough.’

Still, she kept her sights on the summer, as England prepare for a difficult group stage against France, Netherlands and Wales.

‘Of course, my priority was always with City, but long term I was thinking about this summer – and that was a real driver for me. And then to finally get the call from Sarina to say that I was going to the Euros, it was a massive relief. I was so happy and I was quick to call my parents and tell them, because it means so much to me to play for England.’

As the conversation winds down – after detours into her worst padel opponent (‘Grace Clinton!’) and childhood heroes (‘Kelly Smith, Karen Carney, Jill Scott’) – we come to one final question: how does she want to be remembered?

‘The thing that I pride myself in is doing anything for the team, and I want people to think that no matter what, I’d run through a brick wall for my team,’ she says, before adding: ‘I’d love to go down as one of the best wingers in the world.’

At just 24, and with the trajectory she’s on, that goal feels well within reach. But first it’s off to Switzerland where Hemp can get back to doing what she does best, letting her football do the talking.