Michelle Agyemang hits high notes with ease and takes spotlight in her stride | Tom Garry | OneFootball

On the afternoon of Wednesday 2 April, Arsenal’s Michelle Agyemang was sitting pitchside at St George’s Park, watching her England Under-19 teammates cruise to a European Championship qualifier victory against Belgium, unable to play because of suspension.

With the senior Lionesses also based at the national football centre that week, the England manager, Sarina Wiegman, and many of her staff came along to observe the 6-0 win and several of the England players – including the captain, Leah Williamson – chatted with Agyemang in the seating area. Little could the 19-year-old have known that, just over three months later, she would be the Lionesses’ saviour – twice – in the knockout stages of Euro 2025.

A year ago, Agyemang scored a hat-trick for England at the Under-19 European Championship but few could have been bold enough to predict she would burst into the nation’s hearts on the grander stage so soon. Yet, that week in April, events were about to unfold that would transform not only her summer fortunes but England’s too.

On the Saturday Agyemang scored in a strong performance to help the under-19s to defeat Austria 5-1 and the following day she was drafted into the senior squad for the first time to cover for the injured Alessia Russo. A few days later she made her senior England debut, coming on against Belgium in the 80th minute and scoring 41 seconds later with only her second touch.

In Switzerland this summer she has showed why she is so special. With the Lionesses struggling for form – and goals – in their defence of the European Championship they won in 2022 she has twice come on to save them from elimination. In the quarter-final against Sweden, England were 2-0 down when Agyemang replaced Georgia Stanway after 70 minutes, scoring the all-important equaliser before the Lionesses won on penalties. In the semi-final against Italy, she entered the fray as late as the 85th minute and equalised deep into added time. Chloe Kelly scored the winner in extra time and England now have the chance to defend their crown on Sunday in Basel.

Agyemang, who grew up in the Essex town of South Ockendon, with parents of Ghanaian descent, was not even born when England hosted Euro 2005 but she has long been tipped to reach the top and has been playing for Arsenal’s age-group teams since the age of six. Football isn’t the only thing in Agyemang’s life. She is studying business management at King’s College London, as part of its sport and wellness programme. She was “brought up on gospel music” and revealed after England’s win against Sweden that she has brought her piano over. “The kitman brought it over in a van. It’s calm and relaxing,” she said. “Lottie [Wubben-Moy, her Arsenal and England teammate] asked me to play for her – she came to my room and I played a few things for her, which was nice.”

If ever the Football Association wanted an example of the benefits of integrating all of the youth international and senior sides together at St George’s Park, and of the advantages of the interconnected pathway and dialogue between senior and youth-pathway coaches, Agyemang grabbing her golden opportunity in that week in April with both hands was it.

Yes, it is true that it cannot have been in Wiegman’s plans for Russo to pick up a knock during that April camp so that a teenager would need to be called upon for the trip to Belgium, and the Dutchwoman would be the first to admit that. The idea of Agyemang scoring crucial goals this summer to help propel England to their third consecutive major final was surely not one she imagined. It is also true, though, that England’s pathway coaches have admired Agyemang for years and she has long been tipped as a senior star.

In the Women’s Super League, however, she was getting relatively few moments to shine during her season-long loan spell with Brighton, for whom she made 17 WSL appearances last term but just three starts, scoring three times in the 576 minutes she featured on the pitch.

Asked about Agyemang’s talents, during England’s full-squad media day at St George’s Park in June, Williamson said: “I remember the first time she played because she came and flattened me in training. I was too slow on it and I think I gave her a bit of stick about it, but in my head I thought: ‘She’s got something about her’. [She is] someone who you can’t give a second to.

“In training [in June], I was screaming for a pass and she put it top bins and I thought: ‘I ain’t going to say nothing’. So my first impression was, she let me know she was there, which I love. As a young player coming through, you can do all the fancy flicks and tricks you want, but somebody needs to know about you, and you need to tell people that you’re there, and that’s what she does.”

Ask anyone close to the England squad and you will hear similar stories of Agyemang firing powerful shots into the top corner at England’s training base on the outskirts of Zurich during this tournament, while others also speak of a polite, unassuming and well-spoken teenager who conducts herself with a maturity far beyond her years.

Growing up, fittingly one of the youngster’s idols was Theo Walcott, the former Arsenal forward who was the surprise last-gasp inclusion in England’s men’s 2006 World Cup squad. However, the difference is that Walcott – then aged 17 – was not given any match minutes in that tournament by Sven-Göran Eriksson whereas Wiegman has entrusted Agyemang to be a gamechanging substitute.

With three goals from her four senior appearances, her fearless and composed performances – she also hit the crossbar against Italy with an audacious effort – have been so strong that Wiegman was asked in her post-match press conference about whether Agyemang’s displays were forcing her to rethink whether she should play even more.

The head coach replied: “She’s not forcing me. She is very grateful that she gets minutes. She’s ready for it. Her growth and development went so quickly. From not starting at Brighton, to getting lots more minutes, showing how good she is, and coming into our team, as things go it has been pretty smooth for her and I think she feels very good about that.”

To describe her rise as rapid would be a vast understatement. Not even four years ago, Agyemang was a ballgirl at Wembley for Wiegman’s first match at the national stadium. She will surely play a role, one way or another, in the Lionesses’ European final in Basel on Sunday, no longer watching on from the sidelines but now quickly becoming a household name.

Header image: [Photograph: Michael Zemanek/Shutterstock]