MICHELLE AGYEMANG was a Wembley ball girl for Sarina Wiegman’s third game in charge of England.
Aged just 15, Agyemang watched on from the touchline as Wiegman’s Lionesses defeated Northern Ireland 4-0 under the famous arch.
England’s team that night included the likes of Leah Williamson, Alex Greenwood, Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp and Beth Mead.
Four years on, Agyemang can call all five of those Lioness stalwarts team-mates, as she goes for Euro 2025 glory in Switzerland.
At the start of the season, very few would have predicted that the talented 19-year-old would make Wiegman’s squad this summer, let alone perform a key role.
Agyemang went into the campaign having spent the 2023-24 season on loan at Watford in the Women’s Championship.
The forward has still played in just four WSL matches for Arsenal, but a further loan spell at Brighton attracted the England boss’ attention.
A Gunners academy graduate, Agyemang is a fantastic competitor with an endless work rate and a canny eye for goal.
And having only received her first international call-up in April following an injury to Alessia Russo, Agyemang has quickly become a national hero and virtually a household name.
The rising star rose from the bench in England’s quarter-final against Sweden, completing the comeback from two-down by scoring in the 81st minute – with her side going on to win a dramatic penalty shoot-out.
Agyemang played the role of super-sub again in the semi-final, grabbing a priceless 96th minute equaliser against Italy before Arsenal team-mate Chloe Kelly’s 119th minute goal sent England to the final.
On Sunday the Lionesses will face Spain in a rematch of the 2023 World Cup final, which La Roja won 1-0 to break English hearts.
This time England have Agyemang among their ranks, and who would bet against her completing her meteoric rise by once again producing a super-sub outing?
Having debuted in 2013, Lucy Bronze has seen it all with England.
And yet the full-back has still found herself immensely impressed by Agyemang.
The Chelsea star said: “She’s a really sweet girl. She’s so unassuming as a person, but then on the pitch she’s probably one of my favourite ones to play against because I can just run into her dead hard.
“She likes to give it back. She’s been told that she needs to go a little bit easier, but I said: ‘No, just keep it up Micha, I prefer it, I want you to give everything, it makes it harder for us.’”
ALL THE RIGHT NOTES
Agyemang has also impressed her team-mates with her piano skills during down time in Switzerland this summer.
Following the Sweden triumph, the Essex-star hit all the right notes as she said of her piano: “The kitman brought it over in a van. It’s calm and relaxing.
“Lottie [Wubben-Moy] asked me to play for her – she came to my room and I played a few things for her, which was nice.”
When all is said and done at Euro 2025, Agyemang may return to Arsenal with her work cut out – the Gunners’ new £1million signing Olivia Smith adding to a stacked forward line that already included Kelly, Mead and Russo.
But if she can fire England to glory this Sunday, the childhood Arsenal fan may become undeniable at the Emirates, as well as a national treasure.
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