Leah Williamson on her injury and motivation to win more after returning to England squad | OneFootball

Leah Williamson says she is hungry to win more silverware with England after coming back from a long spell out with injury.

Williamson is back in the Lionesses squad for the first time since her side’s Euros triumph last summer after making her comeback from a knee injury of late.

And now the England skipper says she is raring to go with her country, ahead of the World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine and Iceland.

“Yeah, I had a small setback just after Christmas and now I’ve just been really careful about it,” Williamson said when asked about her fitness.

“My physios sat me down at the start of that rehab and said they are going to need me to be a bit more patient than usual, which was fair enough.

“But I’m blessed. I have a life outside of football that’s very easy for me to slip back into and act as a distraction.

“I don’t know if it’s because of the success I had with club and country over the summer but I was really motivated.

“Sometimes when you get injured you kind of want to remove yourself, it’s easier for you that way because the most important thing is your recovery.

“But this time I was quite present and felt like I had the capacity to do (that), and I’m glad I did it because it’s a lot easier to come back into the fold and be ready at the same level as your team-mates.”

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Williamson has twice won the Euros with England, in 2022 and then 2025, but says she hopes she is not done yet.

“After 2022 I know it had fuelled a fire, I suppose, to go and win again,” she explained.

“To have gone and done that, I feel like this time it took a lot out of all of us.

“I didn’t want to be injured but I suppose it provided me with time physically and mentally to reset and process it properly.

“It’s quite a hard thing for an athlete. People have spoken about it before, coming off the high of a tournament.”