{"id":271752,"date":"2025-07-18T10:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T10:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/271752\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T10:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T10:06:12","slug":"who-is-englands-rising-star-agyemang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/271752\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is England’s rising star Agyemang?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michelle Agyemang had been on the pitch for just 41 seconds on her England debut in April when she thundered the ball into the top corner against Belgium.<\/p>\n

A terrific first touch and even better finish highlighted her special talent that day.<\/p>\n

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As a 70th-minute substitute in England’s Euro 2025 quarter-final against Sweden on Thursday, the teenage striker slotted her second international goal<\/a> to keep the Lionesses’ trophy defence alive.<\/p>\n

Manager Sarina Wiegman had predicted the 19-year-old would “bring something different”,<\/a> when naming her in the Euros squad.<\/p>\n

Fans are getting a taste of just what that looks like as England head for a semi-final against Italy, having scraped through a penalty shootout.<\/a><\/p>\n

As Agyemang’s story enters a new chapter, here is a look at her career so far.<\/p>\n

Joining Arsenal at the age of six\"Michelle<\/p>\n

Agyemang signed her first Arsenal professional contract in May 2024 [Getty Images]<\/p>\n

Agyemang is a lifelong Arsenal fan and joined the club’s academy at the age of six, after her father, a grassroots football coach, secured her a trial.<\/p>\n

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She initially played as a defender but developed into a forward.<\/p>\n

Agyemang played through the age categories and moved into the first-team set-up, making her debut in 2022 aged 16.<\/p>\n

Former Arsenal and Scotland defender Jen Beattie told the Women’s Football Weekly podcast Agyemang has become a natural goalscorer.<\/p>\n

“She is unreal,” said Beattie.<\/p>\n

“She was an academy player when I was at Arsenal and she used to come up to training and was sometimes involved in match squads.”<\/p>\n

Beattie said that Arsenal’s players quickly saw the type of finishing quality Agyemang showed against Belgium.<\/p>\n

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“I kid you not – she would do that in training,” Beattie said. “She is an incredible box player, an unbelievable finisher. She doesn’t need more than one or two touches, exactly what you saw against Belgium.”<\/p>\n

After a handful of first-team appearances, Agyemang was loaned to Women’s Championship side Watford for the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n

Agyemang scored five goals in 10 appearances at Watford, and Arsenal rewarded her with a first professional contract.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old joined Brighton on loan in September and scored five goals in 22 appearances.<\/p>\n

Lionesses journey<\/p>\n

Agyemang’s rise through the England ranks has reflected her growth at club level.<\/p>\n

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She has made 25 age-group appearances for the national team – from the under-16s to the under-23s.<\/p>\n

In just a few days in April, she went from scoring for the under-19s in their win against Austria to producing a stunning cameo for the senior side, which led to her Euros call-up.<\/p>\n

The initial England seniors chance may not have come along had it not been for a minor injury suffered by Arsenal team-mate Alessia Russo.<\/a><\/p>\n

Agyemang told BBC Sport in April that she had experienced “a crazy 10 days”.<\/p>\n

“Coming with the under-19s, playing in the Euros round two, coming over here for the seniors, it has been a really good experience and I’m really grateful for the opportunity,” she said.<\/p>\n

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“Both the team and the coaches, everyone has been really welcoming. I’ve felt the love from everyone and you can see it from the performance on the pitch I felt like myself and confident.<\/p>\n

“This is the level I want to play at, week in week out, at club as well, making sure I do everything I can to get back here again and help the team get ready for the Euros as well.”<\/p>\n

‘Take her to the Euros’ – what did others say?<\/p>\n

Wiegman was full of praise for Agyemang after her goalscoring debut off the bench.<\/p>\n

“That goal was just incredible. The composure, the first touch and the second touch. For her, it was really nice that she comes on and within a minute she has the moment,” she said.<\/p>\n

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England captain Leah Williamson said: “I think the first training session at Arsenal she hit me hard enough to remember her name. I’m delighted for her.”<\/p>\n

Beattie added: “She has made a name for herself now. There is no better intro to a senior squad than that in an international debut.”<\/p>\n

Ellen White – the Lionesses’ record goalscorer – described Agyemang as “a phenomenal talent”.<\/p>\n

“Take her to the Euros,” White said in April. “There is some excitement, something different and something fresh.”<\/p>\n

Agyemang, who was a ball girl in Wiegman’s first game for England, is now the manager’s trusted wildcard.<\/p>\n

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More questions answered…\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michelle Agyemang had been on the pitch for just 41 seconds on her England debut in April when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[103022,57615,161,1789,1169,748,103025,393,4884,103023,2199,103024,42809,66158,103021,45545,812,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-271752","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-agyemang","9":"tag-alessia-russo","10":"tag-arsenal","11":"tag-belgium","12":"tag-brighton","13":"tag-britain","14":"tag-ellen-white","15":"tag-england","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-international-appearances","18":"tag-italy","19":"tag-jen-beattie","20":"tag-leah-williamson","21":"tag-lionesses","22":"tag-michelle-agyemang","23":"tag-sarina-wiegman","24":"tag-sweden","25":"tag-uk","26":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114873682140199573","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}