Why teenage wildcard Michelle Agyemang is the key to England's chaos theory

Independent

21-07-2025

For a striker, Michelle Agyemang is unusual in that she doesn't like goal celebrations. In a very Gen Z, self-conscious way, the 19-year-old finds the idea of them to be 'cringe' and 'embarrassing'. But Agyemang's initial shyness only partly explains why she is yet to celebrate, at least in a traditional sense, or even smile, after either of her two goals for England, which have remarkably come in just three substitute appearances for her country.
Agyemang has only ever come onto the pitch for England when they have been losing. When she scored her stunning volley against Belgium in April, only 41 seconds into her senior England debut, the Lionesses still trailed 3-2 and a goal of such quality was greeted by a wave to the travelling England fans and a hasty jog back to the halfway line.
There was more intensity when Agyemang equalised in normal time against Sweden in England's Euro 2025 quarter-final, instinctively finishing Beth Mead's knock-down in the box, but the moment became lost in the wider frenetic energy of the night as she immediately scrambled the ball out of the net, bumped chests with Lucy Bronze, and roared towards the touchline. She encapsulated the same rage the Lionesses had to play with in order to stay alive.
'I refrain from celebrating,' Agyemang had explained earlier in the tournament. 'If it comes out, if it comes out.'
And while there is a romantic element to Agyemang's sudden burst onto centre stage, and her journey from one-cap call-up to rescuing England from the brink of exiting a major international tournament, the reason Agyemang can't yet celebrate also underlines the selflessness of her role at Euro 2025. She is the teenage wildcard who has turned into the emergency option when England are chasing a game - and in the chase, the scorer is often obscured by the hurried dash to set up kick-off. There is a job still to do.
Following her impact as a substitute against France and Sweden, there have been some premature suggestions that Agyemang could start for England. She does not yet have the all-round game of Alessia Russo or the quick feet of Aggie Beever-Jones and, for all of Agyemang's relentless work-rate at the Euros, there have been times where the ball has bounced off her. She is as aware as anyone that she is far from the finished product but, at the same time, Agyemang has not been assessed under the same conditions. The games in which she has come on have already been blown up into mangled, disorderly chunks.
Agyemang, though, has thrived in this chaos because her introduction has been the detonator. She carries a presence that forces opposition defences to drop an extra five or 10 yards, to occupy the second centre-back next to Russo and stand as an inviting target. Wiegman saw her impact at first against Belgium, and how a defence that had grown comfortable dealing with what England possessed suddenly panicked when an extra, unknown forward was thrown in. The same thing has happened now with France and Sweden. 'This is basically why we selected her,' Wiegman said on Thursday night.
Agyemang is a handful, the right sort of nuisance. She has the instincts and force to change a game. Part of it is her physicality, unique among England's 23-player squad, another is the determination to make an immediate impression. Leah Williamson tells a story of the first time Agyemang trained with Arsenal's senior team and she was 'flattened' within the first 10 seconds. With England, Wiegman has had to tell her new rookie to take it easier in training. Bronze, the oldest player in the England squad who is given new energy by the fearlessness of England's young faces, loves it and tells her to go harder.
She is also unfazed by how quickly this is all happening. Four years ago, Agyemang was a ball-girl for Wiegman's first game in charge of England at Wembley. Three years ago, she watched the Euros final on TV. If England beat Italy on Tuesday, she could be playing in it. Agyemang spent last season on loan at Brighton, despite the hype around her at Arsenal, where she scored three times. Her goal against Everton in April came in front of a few hundred people, while her equaliser against Sweden was watched by a TV audience of 7.4m and delayed the News at Ten on BBC One.
Senior players in the England team are naturally protective of the youngest member of the squad. Bronze accompanied Agyemang through the media mixed zone after England beat Sweden on penalties with an arm around her, keeping her under her wing. Yet Bronze also urged her to take in the moment and open up on the experience. 'Use your words, Miche!' Bronze said after a camera was thrust into Agyemang's face. 'You're good with words!' Agyemang is intelligent and softly spoken, confident but reserved, until she's asked by Wiegman to get ready and is thrown into the fray.
'I think when you're going in to change a game when there's not much going your way, it can actually be more beneficial,' Agyemang remarked following the France game at the start of the Euros. 'You can just go and take the game by the scruff of the neck.' The Lionesses saw how she had shaken France and transformed the game despite England's opening defeat and knew Agyemang could bring a similar momentum shift in the quarter-final. 'I was like, 'Come alive now Miche, come alive now!' Chloe Kelly said, before setting up Agyemang with her second assist in three minutes.
'When we finished the game the other night I just said: 'Miche, you are clutch!'' praised Esme Morgan. 'Because that's twice now she's stepped up in pressure situations. She's someone that we know we can turn to in stressful moments, to be a presence, holding the ball up and linking play, making runs in behind. She's a really hard worker and has an incredible sense for the positioning she should take up in the box to get on the end of things and finish chances.'
Yet for Agyemang, the reality is her tournament would likely have looked very different had everything gone to plan for England. Beever-Jones was Wiegman's preferred replacement when England were comfortably ahead against the Netherlands and Wales and may be so again should the Lionesses lead Italy in their semi-final on Tuesday night. But, clearly, this has not been a tournament where everything has gone to plan. And if the holders find themselves behind and on the brink again, England know there is another option, one to blow the game into pieces while remaining the coolest head amongst the rubble.