Sarina Wiegman has already called up some new faces since reaching the World Cup final, and there are plenty more where they came from
It’s been a pretty good couple of years for the England women’s national team. Between winning the European Championships in 2022 and reaching the 2023 Women’s World Cup final, the Lionesses have firmly asserted themselves as a power on the world stage under head coach Sarina Wiegman.
There’s been a lot of growth domestically, too, with the Women’s Super League blossoming into one of the very best places on the planet to play football. The league continues to be an extremely attractive proposition around the world, with some 36 nations represented by its 12 clubs.
But the WSL is also still a place for the best young English talent to thrive. Twenty of the 23 names called up by Wiegman in October ply their trade in their home country, and the stars of the future are getting their opportunities to shine, too, even if the talent pool is expanding massively.
Many of those in the Lionesses’ youth teams have been grabbing the attention in this season’s WSL already, then, despite it still being in its very early stages, and Wiegman has shown that she’s ready to reward that form, calling-up youngsters Khiara Keating and Grace Clinton for the first time in October as a result.
But those two are not the only exciting prospects giving England fans a reason to look forward to the future, either. Here are nine that have caught GOAL’s eye so far in this WSL season…
GettyBrooke Aspin (Bristol City, on loan from Chelsea)
Set to join up with Chelsea next summer after signing a four-year contract this past summer, Brooke Aspin has been shining for Bristol City ever since she broke into the first team as a 16-year-old, so it’s no surprise that she’s already been snapped up by a top club despite not venturing out of those teenage years just yet.
On loan with the Robins this season after helping them win promotion to the top-flight last term, the young centre-back has already come up with a huge moment as the club bids to battle the odds and avoid relegation. Away at West Ham in early November, she rose highest to meet Megan Connolly’s free-kick and head home a goal that would give Bristol their first win and first points of the campaign.
Aspin tops the charts within the City squad for blocks and interceptions, and she is fantastic with the ball at her feet, too. Underpinning the 18-year-old’s performances this season, though, have been leadership qualities that belie her years. Captain of England’s Under-19s, her character and maturity really stands out, and she has the story of a fighter, too.
Last year, Aspin battled a bone infection, a blood clot and sepsis – and still managed to get back onto the pitch before the end of the season to help Bristol win promotion. “I see life as something that you just have to enjoy, you have to live every moment now,” she told . “As soon as I walk out on that pitch, then I’m loving every moment because I’m playing what I love and I may not have got that opportunity before.”
AdvertisementGettyAggie Beever-Jones (Chelsea)
Another young talent on Chelsea’s books, Aggie Beever-Jones has represented the Blues since she was a young girl and this season, after loan spells with Bristol City and Everton, she’s starting to get her first-team opportunities, scoring three goals in just four substitute appearances in the WSL so far. She’s averaging a goal every 21 minutes.
“She stretches teams, she gets in behind,” Chelsea boss Emma Hayes said in October after the 20-year-old had netted the first of those three. "She has some work to do to know when to press, where to press, when not to double down, all of that detail. But she’s always in our offices asking for analysis.”
Beever-Jones is quick, she’s deceptively strong and she’s versatile, too, capable of playing on either wing or as a central striker. Throw in her desire to make things happen and her unpredictability, and she’s becoming a fantastic impact substitute for the reigning WSL champions to turn to.
GettyLaura Blindkilde Brown (Aston Villa)
When GOAL spoke to Aston Villa boss Carla Ward earlier this year, she didn’t hold back in her praise for Laura Blindkilde Brown, the young midfielder who has been a regular starter for the Midlands club since she was just 18 years old.
“Laura is one of the biggest talents I've ever worked with. She really is,” she said. “If she can start believing it… Because she has no idea just how good she can be and how good she is already. You have to keep reminding her every single day because she's just one of a kind. I've literally never worked with a youngster like her.”
Those words say it all, really. It’s no surprise, then, that the Danish Football Association have tried to talk her into representing her mother’s side of the family, whom she wears the name ‘Blindkilde’ on the back of her shirt for. But the 20-year-old told GOAL last year that her dream is to play for England, the team she has long represented at youth level.
An attack-minded midfielder who can also play out wide, Blindkilde Brown has bundles of energy, meaning she presses well, she is excellent at picking up spaces where she can hurt opponents and is generally just a bit of a nuisance for defenders. Her footwork and her love of the game, no doubt strengthened by a heart condition that almost forced her to stop playing a few years ago, make her a joy to watch.
GettyGrace Clinton (Tottenham, on loan from Man Utd)
A name that many have been keeping an eye on for a while, Grace Clinton threatened time and time again to break through at Everton, but the young midfielder sat largely on the fringes of the squad before joining Manchester United last year.
Compared to Ella Toone by Red Devils boss Marc Skinner due to her ability to “make a magic moment”, first-team opportunities were going to be even harder to come by at a club that was battling for Champions League football (an injury didn’t help either), but Clinton has been able to thrive in her two loan spells since changing clubs in the north west.
After scoring six goals in 12 games to help Bristol win promotion from the second tier last term, the 20-year-old has been so good for Tottenham at the start of this new season that she was called up by Wiegman to be part of the squad for England’s games against Belgium in October.
Operating both as a left winger and a No.10 for Spurs, head coach Robert Vilahamn believes that a wide role is good for Clinton at this stage in her career as it is allowing her to find pockets of space gradually. He has no doubt what lies ahead for her, though. “In the future, she’s going to start as a No.10 in the national team,” he said last month. “I’m quite sure of that.”