Hannah Hampton has vowed to stay as much as Mary Earps’ England legacy as she prepares to be the Lionesses primary on the upcoming European Championships.
Earps introduced her shock choice to stroll away from worldwide responsibility final month, having helped England win Euro 2022 and main them to the World Cup ultimate a 12 months later.
She performs her soccer in France with Paris Saint-Germain, and earned 53 caps for her nation, whereas additionally successful the Greatest FIFA Goalkeeper award in successive years.
Nevertheless, the 32-year-old has misplaced her beginning place to Chelsea’s Hampton, who wore the primary shirt in every of England’s final three fixtures earlier than Earps’ retirement.
Hampton loved a stellar season for Sonia Bompastor’s Blues, preserving a division-high 13 clear sheets (degree with Phallon Tullis-Joyce) within the Girls’s Tremendous League final 12 months.
She additionally conceded simply 13 objectives, the bottom within the division of goalkeepers to play a minimal of 16 video games within the WSL in 2024-25.
“We now have to clearly respect what her choice is,” Hampton mentioned of Earps.
“I believe there’s been fairly a little bit of scrutiny that she in all probability doesn’t deserve with every thing she’s achieved within the recreation.
“She put ladies’s goalkeeping on the map for the youthful technology. It was by no means actually a factor, and Mary’s modified that.
“I believe I’ve executed every thing I have to do. I’ve despatched her a textual content and I congratulated her on a really profitable worldwide profession and I believe that’s all I actually can do.
“She’s been an unbelievable participant. We’re gonna miss her as an individual right here. She’s an enormous persona on this workforce and she or he glued us all collectively at instances once we wanted to.
“So, I believe it’s been troublesome for everybody to come back to phrases with what her choice is, however we have now to respect that.
“And yeah, now I’ve received to simply go and stay as much as her legacy. I’ll give it my finest shot for positive.”
Hampton is now England’s solely capped goalkeeper within the squad, with Khiara Keating and Anna Moorhouse the opposite two keepers going to the Euros.
“I’m going to be making an attempt my very best to fill the gloves of the keepers [who came] earlier than and the success they’ve had,” Hampton added.
“I believe like everybody right here, they’ve had ups and downs of their careers.
“They’ve fought out of that to be within the place they’re at present and I’m in all probability one among them, but it surely’s no completely different to anybody else right here.
“There have been moments when everybody [in the squad] has in all probability thought they had been in a tricky place, however you get one another out of it.”
