At some point, Michelle Agyemang may start playing a game for England when they are not behind. It could even be on Sunday in the Euro 2025 final. But for now, it is hard to think of anyone at this tournament who has a clearer understanding of their exact role and the impact they can make than the 19-year-old striker who began it with just one international appearance for her country, and who has now saved them from the brink twice in two games.
“She feels inevitable right now,” said Leah Williamson, and, somehow, so do England. But the only moments where England have felt as if they’ve had any sort of momentum behind them in their extraordinary escapes against Sweden and now Italy came when the youngest member of the squad was on the pitch; the teenager was a Wembley ball-girl for the Lionesses just four years ago, but has now helped fire them into a third consecutive major tournament final.
Could Agyemang now start it? Wiegman almost certainly ruled that out, insisting her hand wouldn’t be forced, but the England manager underlined why there was such belief surging through her team thanks to Agyemang’s latest intervention. “She brings something special and she has something special,” a stunned Wiegman said. “She’s only 19 years old, she’s very mature, she knows exactly what she has to do.”
The problem for everyone else at the Euros is they don’t know what to do about Agyemang. From the instant impact on her debut against Belgium in April to the equalisers in the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, everyone is now aware that the moment of Agyemang’s arrival moves a match into its own unique phase. “You see it when she comes on,” Lucy Bronze said. “Defenders are petrified of her.”
Part of it is the element of the unknown; opposition teams could study Agyemang but it would require delving into her minutes on loan at Brighton last season, which feels another world away now. Even then, they can’t prepare for Agyemang’s physicality or aggression or the effectiveness of her hold-up play. But with Agyemang there is also what the opposition can’t see: the humbleness to learn and improve and the hunger to show the world what she can do.
It is, quite simply, the reason England are into another final. Once again, as the Lionesses finally gave up on attempting to play well and accepted that their only route to survival was rolling the dice and launching it forward, it was Agyemang who kept her head in the chaos. When England were hurried, and with their Euros on the line, she found the touch that appeared to slow down time itself.
England were desperate but Lauren Hemp discarded all of her previous wasteful deliveries and found the cross that stretched Italy’s defence. England had so often got caught waiting in the box but there was Beth Mead, darting across the front post. Suddenly, there was Agyemang with the ball at her feet, and with no one near her.
Does that make the pressure even worse? Having all that time? An extra moment to potentially realise the magnitude how often this second in time will be replayed forever? The Italian wall that has withstood England for so long has finally retreated and Agyemang, if she dared to look up, has three towering obstacles in front of her.
It would be an exaggeration to suggest that Agyemang’s career had been building up to this moment; her journey in football, after all, is only just lifting off the ground. And perhaps this is how Agyemang managed to pause, to keep her head clear and over the ball, to maintain the technique that saw her drill the finish low and hard, piercing through the bodies.
It’s no accident, either. “She has such awareness of where she needs to be in the box,” said Esme Morgan. “She’s just such an incredibly intelligent player to know what spaces to pick up and then such a composed finisher when she gets the opportunity. She’s an incredible person to be able to rely on.” Chloe Kelly, who lacks no amount of her own self-belief, said the introduction of Agyemang “gave us confidence”.
And what Agyemang delivered was also the complete opposite of what England had produced up until the 95th minute. England, again, were seconds from going home, and this team were doing some seriously strange things, the kind of choices players make when they are physically and mentally exhausted, the legs weary and the mind fogged in the face of the nightmare unfolding in front of them.
Agyemang rescued England but then played with the clarity to provide exactly the right runs, to know what loose balls to chase down, and to find the energy that the Lionesses so desperately lacked. She did it with a flourishing confidence, too, as displayed by her= volleyed shot from the angle crashing against the crossbar. Down an inch and it would have sent England through.
“She was going on by herself,” Bronze said. “She had two or three good runs in extra time where she was like, I’m going to take this team to the final. I think that gives the rest of the team confidence.” The Lionesses are being pushed forward by the fearlessness of their youth. “What a future the kid’s got ahead of her,” Bronze remarked.
It is Agyemang’s present, though, that is now accelerating beyond her wildest imagination. “I was just a kid, throwing the ball to these girls,” Agyemang reflected. “To do this, at this level, it’s more than I could’ve wished for. Most of these girls I’ve not known for more than two months, to see them celebrate with me, it’ll live in my heart forever.”
There may yet be the fairytale ending. On Sunday, one of Spain or Germany will know that England have a powerful card in their back pocket, even if they are ahead in the Euro 2025 final. It’s why, for all of the changes that Wiegman needs to make to rectify the slow starts England keep drifting into, Agyemang will not be “forcing” Wiegman into a decision: England’s back-up plan has become their greatest weapon.
