‘We’re the team that everyone wants to beat’: Manchester City’s Lioness trio are ready to fight for more trophies
City’s stars speak exclusively to The Cutback about working with Andree Jeglertz and expectations for the new season.
It’s four weeks until the start of the new WSL season, but Manchester City’s club shop is packed with expectant fans jostling to get a glimpse of new signings Beth Mead and Niamh Charles, and long-standing winger Lauren Hemp.
The crowd are hanging on every word of the England trio as they share snippets from a rare summer break without a women’s major tournament. Hemp went to Disneyland, Charles was in Croatia, alongside other getaways, and Mead was in Ibiza, the go-to destination for many women’s footballers.
Now, they’re back at City’s Etihad Campus, preparing for a WSL season where they’ll be starting as champions, the team to beat and chase down.
It’s not a new feeling for any of them, who have trophies with club and country at various points throughout their careers, but as the summer transfer window has seen blockbuster signings pop up at teams across the league, City know that their rivals are hungrier than ever for silverware.
“Naturally, we’re going to be the team that everyone wants to beat”, Hemp tells The Cutback, “but as players, we like the pressure; that’s what you want. You want to win trophies, naturally, that’s what comes with it, but it also gives us more excitement.
“We want to retain the title again. You can tell already in the last couple of weeks that everyone’s excited to get back to it, and we’re really looking forward to the season and hopefully trying our best to retain it again”.
While City boss Andree Jeglertz has been adding WSL experience to his squad, London City Lionesses have made bold moves in the window, signing two-time Ballon D’or winner Alexia Putellas, her former Barcelona teammate Mapi Leon and French forward Kadidiatou Diani.
Hemp acknowledges the huge pull the WSL has when it comes to recruiting the best footballing talent in the world. “It’s incredible that the WSL are attracting players of that caliber. We deserve it as a league.
“I think it’s grown so much over the last few years, and it’s the most competitive league in the world. It’s exciting to have new players join the league, and obviously, London City have made lots of signings. It’ll be interesting to see how they do this season.
“I think the majority of us can say we’re just focusing on ourselves, but obviously it excites us to be able to play up against some of the world’s best players”.
Mead was linked to a move to London City last summer, but opted to stay at Arsenal before her move to City in June, and it’s Jeglertz that has been the pull for many players, who speak positively about working with the Swede.
“I think it was one of the things that helped make City attractive. When you speak to him, and he shares the expectation and what he wants from you as a player, Mead says. “He’s very clear, and I was very excited speaking to him. To be able to come into training and work with him, and you listen to the different side of tactics and hear it firsthand from him, it’s been refreshing.”
Mead adds that the way her game is “evolving” made it a perfect fit. “City very much suits” the way she wants to play.
“He [Jeglertz] had clear expectations of me and what he wanted from me”, she says. “It’s not always easy to come away excited from those conversations, but we’re aligned on things that I’m good at. It made the decision very easy. So hopefully, no pressure, but I’ve got to now live up to what he wants”.
Charles adds that it was speaking to Hemp that sold City to her, “the way she [Hemp] speaks about it, how she’s getting better, how she’s enjoying it, and speaking to Andree [Jeglertz] and how he sees the full-back role with me, it’s been really refreshing.
“I like the detail in the meetings. It’s very clear what he wants, and translating that onto the training pitch with the players. I think it’s great that all the players are receptive to it, and it’s very clear we’re all on the same page when we’re training, and hopefully that translates into the games”.
When chatting with fans in the City club shop, Mead joked about reuniting with her former side, when City face Arsenal at the Etihad in October, saying she hopes they’ll pack out the stadium and “get them beat”.
It will be those clashes with their title rivals that will prove crucial to City’s trophy chances this coming campaign, and how they balance that with a return to Europe. The Champions League is a competition that hasn’t always been City’s friend. They’ve experienced exits in qualifying, group-stage highs, such as beating Barcelona in 2025, and the squandering of a first-leg lead against Chelsea in the quarter-finals of that same season.
And Hemp acknowledges that depth is going to be crucial. The addition of Mead and Charles, and the retention of star striker Bunny Shaw, who signed a new contract in May just after she was rumoured to be moving to Chelsea, shows City have ambition.
“I think you saw last season in the WSL, we had players who could come on and make a difference, and I think that will obviously be so important”, says Hemp. “But the amount of games we’ve got this season, that rotation and the depth within the squad, and the competition at the moment has been fantastic.
“Even in preseason, you can sense the competitiveness. But we’re such a together group that we balance that with enjoyment as well”.
Before the season kicks off, City’s squad will come together for a pre-season BBQ and potentially some initiations for the new signings, albeit Hemp admits there’s still a backlog from last season’s new additions who were never called upon for the usual song or dance that has been custom at football clubs when new players join.
I joke with the trio that maybe that’s why the atmosphere within City’s squad is so good. Mead responds, saying that she was normally the MC for Arsenal’s preseason initiations, but maybe she can “bribe” captain Alex Greenwood to get away with not having to take part in the usual hijinks.