Lauren James has struggled with injury this year. In April she suffered a hamstring problem and was racing against time to be fit for the Women’s Euros.
She made the England squad and started all six of their matches – but was substituted during the first half of England’s Euros final against Spain due to injury.
She had also managed only the first half of the semi-final against Italy.
Since then, her club Chelsea have confirmed that she will not be able to start the Women’s Super League season – but James has no regrets, although she would have liked more understanding from the public.
“A lot of the time fans don’t know what is going on, they only know what is in front of them,” she said in an interview with BBC Sport.
“They don’t know what someone is dealing with, what is going on in their life. I always say to the fans, be mindful, you don’t know what someone is dealing with out there. You could just be adding on to it.
“No player goes into a game or into a season thinking I’m not going to try. It was a Euros, they don’t come around often. You could have one leg hanging off, I will still tell you that I’m going to try to play.”
Lauren James: I know when something is not right
Chelsea have not confirmed the exact nature of her current injury, but the BBC report states that she is currently wearing a protective boot.
“I was obviously fighting to be fit for the Euros, then suffered another injury in the quarter-finals, and tried to play on,” she said.
“Then people assume you’re not trying, but at the end of the day I’m in a ridiculous amount of pain which caused me to come off at half-time in the semi-finals and before half-time in the final.”
James also revealed that she was feeling the injury during the quarter-final against Sweden – in which she took and missed a penalty in the shoot-out.
“I know when something is not right, but we had no more subs left [against Sweden] so I had to stay on the pitch. And then it’s a Euros semi-final, I didn’t think it was a major injury so I tried to play [against Italy]. Then we’re in the final, I can’t not play, so I tried again.
“And obviously we won, but I didn’t feel great. I didn’t play how I wanted to play, I couldn’t dribble, I couldn’t run properly.”
