Anouk Denton finished training with England U23s on Sunday 26 October expecting to head back to St George’s Park to continue her preparations for the Young Lionesses’ fixture against Portugal’s U23s on Monday 27 October.
But as the defender prepared to leave the pitch, unexpectedly, she was pulled aside by her manager, Emma Coates.
“She told me that Sarina [Wiegman] wanted to call me up,” our No18 recounted. “We walked over to the first-team’s session and I met Sarina! I’d never spoken to her before.”
With not much, if any time, to prepare herself, Denton was soon face-to-face and in conversation with the Lionesses head coach for the first time - a person she has watched lead England to back-to-back UEFA Women’s European Championship successes, including their first-ever major tournament victory on home soil in 2022.
But Denton was soon made to feel at ease.
She said: “She introduced herself and said, ‘I’m Sarina, I don’t know if you know who I am?’. I told her I knew who she was! She told me they’d been watching me [for a while] and that I’d been doing really well, and that they wanted to bring me in. Sarina called Rehanne [Skinner], and I got a text from her as well.
“I called my family straight after lunch. It was also my girlfriend’s birthday, so it was a little birthday present for her as well. They were all really excited!”
Being called up to the senior England squad has always been a dream of Denton’s and her form over the course of the past few seasons has turned those ambitions into reality. The versatile defender, who has played as both a left and right full-back and wing-back, has come on leaps and bounds with regular minutes.
Since joining the Hammers permanently in January 2023, which followed a half-season loan spell in 2021, she has gone on to make 61 appearances across all competitions, becoming one of the Club’s most experienced players at just 22 years old, whilst also progressing from England’s U19s to the U23s.
And her connections from her time with the Young Lionesses helped settle her nerves in her maiden training session with the first team.
“It was so nice to have Aggie [Beever-Jones], Lucia Kendall and Laura Blindkilde Brown there,” she continued. “I also knew Grace Fisk, who used to be at West Ham. Having a few people that I knew was really helpful.
“Esme Morgan is so nice, you can tell from seeing her that she’s such a lovely person, and Maya Le Tissier is also really friendly as well.
“The quality [of training] was so good. Obviously that’s what you’d expect them to be like, but technically they’re all such good players. I’m used to playing in the WSL and playing against these players, but it was still an even higher quality than that.
“It was also really fun. It was satisfying to watch how quick the passing patterns were.
“I did think, ‘Wow, I’ve seen all these players playing on TV and now they’re there in person’, but everyone was a lot less scary than I thought! I haven’t got a bad thing to say about anyone. They were all really welcoming.”
However, there was a more senior member of the Lionesses squad that Denton had met before.
She said: “When I was eight and she was 19, Lucy Bronze coached me for a bit at a park in Potters Bar, but that was before she was big. But she remembered me from those sessions, which was probably a bit weird for her!”
And so, after training, Denton travelled with the rest of Wiegman’s squad to Derby as they prepared to face Australia at Pride Park on Tuesday 28 October.
While she was not in the matchday squad, it was still an eye-opening experience for Denton, who watched her side run out 3-0 winners in front of a sold-out crowd. She was also congratulated on her call-up by her Hammers captain Katrina Gorry, who played the full 90 in the Matildas’ midfield.
“It was very similar to how it is in the U23s, the set-up and the warm-ups, but it was just cool being in the changing room, hearing the pre-match talk, and experiencing the game from a different perspective,” said Denton.
“My parents, my brother and my girlfriend came to the game in the family and friends section. They didn’t realise how nice it would be, they had a full three-course meal! My brother is a big women’s football fan, so he was a bit starstruck seeing all the players there.
“Lucia Kendall, one of my closest friends, made her debut that evening and had such a good game, so it was really fun watching her as well!
“It was a good sneak peek and taster into what it would be like [to consistently be in the first-team set-up], and 100 per cent I’d love to be back there. I’ll obviously keep working hard to make that happen.”
