England's golden girl: 'Genius' Lauren James' journey from red card hell to Lionel Messi's co-TV star

Between takes on a recent Pepsi advert, England star Lauren James is asked to hit a stack of cans from five yards away.

‘Too easy,’ James replies, before she turns her back, flicks the ball up and backheels it towards the target in one swift, mesmerising motion. She doesn’t turn to check — just waits for the clatter. David Beckham walks past and tips his hat. He knows brilliance when he sees it.

And James, 23, who scored twice, one a beauty, as England thrashed the Netherlands 4-0 on Wednesday to reignite their Euros title defence, is the Lionesses’ poster girl of this tournament. She’s in TV adverts for deodorants, Cadbury chocolate and Walkers crisps — appearing alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

Dubbed a ‘genius’ by former Chelsea manager Emma Hayes, James burst on to the scene at the Women’s World Cup in Australia two years ago.

But her story took a turn for the worse in the last-16 clash with Nigeria when she stamped on Michelle Alozie and was sent off. England qualified for the quarter-finals on penalties but James was banned for two matches and suffered a backlash.

James, the sister of Chelsea’s Reece, apologised to her teammates and vowed to learn. Her inner circle insist the stamp was out of character for someone who is warm, funny and grounded, with manager Sarina Wiegman saying she is the ‘sweetest person I know’.

Injuries have since disrupted James’s momentum — she played just nine Super League matches last season — but her selection for Wiegman’s squad, despite not playing since April, is testament to her talent.

To understand what turned James into a generational talent, Mail Sport spoke to the man who knows her best: her father, the former footballer Nigel James, who set up coaching academy Goals in Wimbledon on five-a-side astro pitches. The centre has been running for 24 years.

Nigel described how his daughter’s love of football emerged from a simple thing — not wanting to be left out by her older brothers: Josh, who was on the books of Fulham and Reading, and Reece. ‘Her brothers were in the garden practising, and they would have their friends over who were in academies,’ he told Mail Sport.

‘Lauren was always surrounded by top players, and she was like the little sister of them all. She was driven by not being left out. And that’s all they knew, training and having fun. Every day they played for three or four hours in the park, no one coaching them. They were developing without realising. But the level of what they were doing was high.’

Nigel coached Lauren in the cages at Goals, where she was often the only girl. His focus was on developing ‘ball comfort’ — the ability to use both feet and stay composed in tight spaces.

Nigel also credits the battles with her brothers for building her impressive strength. James made five appearances for Arsenal before a move to Manchester United kickstarted her rise and triggered a then Women’s Super League record £200,000 transfer to Chelsea in 2021.

Her rise continued and she made her debut for England a year later, with her and Reece becoming the first brother and sister to represent their country. Now established as one of the game’s leading lights, Lauren is in a good place after overcoming online abuse over her weight that impacted her mental and physical well-being.

She feels happy and nowhere more so than in a packed stadium. ‘I play to get people off their seats,’ she says. As her display against the Netherlands proved, when James is at her best, England rise with her.