To celebrate Lauren Hemp's contract extension, we have resurfaced last year's feature in which City spoke to influential people in Hemp's career to date to celebrate her five years with the Club in 2023.
It’s a scary prospect to think that moving to a whole new city and new football team could change the course of a player’s career forever. But for someone who is dedicated to perfecting their craft, moving to Manchester City at 18 years old was a fairy tale turned reality for Lauren Hemp.
The forward has spent the past five years growing, learning and adapting her style of play at City. Thanks to that hard work, she has an honours list that would be the envy of many despite only being 22.
And on the 31 May, we celebrate Lauren’s five years at City by talking to those who have helped influence her career to date.
Lauren’s breakthrough came in 2016 when Bristol City manager Willie Kirk plucked her from the ranks at her local club Norwich.
Initially a part of the Vixens Development team, with standout performances such as in their Development Cup win over Arsenal, Lauren became a mainstay in Bristol’s first team at 17.
Despite her diminutive stature, Lauren was proving she could stand up to the physical challenges of senior football.
“It was obvious she played with the boys her whole career because she just had that pace and power and strength and tenacity,” began Kirk. “Things that were quite unique in the women’s game I suppose and certainly unique at the level we were playing at and the level of players we had.
“I always talk about when I spoke with her mum and dad about trying to find a way to drop her [from the senior team] because my big worry was that at 16/17 years old she was playing every 90 minutes.
“I never wanted her to feel that she’d achieved everything that she could at Bristol so I was trying to find ways to leave her out the team but it was so difficult!”
While tongue in cheek, Kirk’s comment about Lauren’s progression was clear to see. She started in all 18 league games in the 2017/18 season, scoring nine times – over half of the team’s goals for the entire campaign.
Those exploits meant she would win PFA YPOTY – and would go on to win it the most out of any player.
During this time, Lauren was also fully integrated within the Football Association’s elite pathway, a system designed to help England’s most exciting prospects develop from a young age with the aim of reaching senior level.
Kay Cossington, now the Women’s Technical Director, was once a national team head coach and got to work with Lauren in an international capacity.
“I myself was a national team head coach many years ago and Lauren was one of the players back in the Under-15s. So I’ve known Lauren for many years, when she was 12/13 years of age,” began Cossington.
“Lauren’s worked and been fully supported throughout the whole pathway. She’s worked really closely with Lydia Bedford who was the east region talent technical coach at the time. Lauren spent some time playing in the boys side at Norwich and the girls centre of excellence.
Part of that development saw Lauren sample an U20 World Cup tournament.
She thrived on the international stage. In their final group game, Lauren scored a hat-trick against Mexico, scoring one of the goals by landing on the ball! England went on to finish third, overcoming France on penalties and giving Lauren a taste of tournament experience in 2018 that would leave her wanting more.
But for all of her attributes one stood out. Although admittedly it needed some finetuning.
“Her pace was electric!” said Cossington. “I just remember her being offside all the time. Her pace was just incredible and it was just about how she used it. And her one-v-one ability, which is evident today as well, was really exciting when she first came into the pathway.”
“She played as an 11 for us, but then she went in as a nine, then we decided to drop her into a 10 to give her a little bit more space and get running. So we were trying to help with using her pace as a super strength and finding different ways of doing that.
“But, she was so coachable – I mean she still is today. She’s always a very pleasant, well-mannered individual and was just thirsty to learn. She wanted to be a great footballer and she was super focused in every session that was delivered.
“I remember it vividly, thinking ‘wow this young girl has got talent on the ball. She’s quick, she’s creative, she’s coachable, she’s curious, she’s got all of the things you want in a young player.” - Kay Cossington.
Kirk reinforces Cossington’s assessment that whilst Lauren had huge potential, there were still areas of her game that needed to improve in those early years. One game in particular showed the promise the now Leicester boss had at his disposal.
“For Lauren, it was that she never became too predictable,” said Kirk when explaining what he focused on with Lauren during their time together at Bristol.
“We were always fearful that when you’ve got pace, if for whatever reason through injury or something you lost a bit of pace, what else have you got? So one thing was developing her right side. We knew we were making a breakthrough with that when she scored against Arsenal with her right foot.
“She’d cut in from the left-hand side and put us 1-0 up. We drew the game 1-1 actually which was massive for Bristol at Boreham Wood. That’s when we realised she’d made a breakthrough. She was very diligent with her work and very conscious of it herself so she’d work on it which is a sign of a great player.”
Performances like that showed Kirk that he had a potential star on his hands and knew it wouldn’t be long before offers came in at the end of the 2017/18 season.
“Selfishly I’d have loved to have kept her but again I think I knew deep down I wasn’t going to be able to keep her for long,” said Kirk.
“I always remember exactly where I was standing and she asked me if I had a minute and we went out onto the balcony at Bristol, at the college where they used to play, and she burst into tears. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with her!
“And she said ‘I’m going to sign for Man City’. And I was like ‘Lauren this is meant to be a happy moment’. It was nice the fact she felt so attached to the club after only a year and a half but I thought it was fantastic, I thought it was really good for her.”
Nick Cushing was the man in charge of City in 2018 and had been wanting to bring Lauren to the club for some time.
If the wingers standout performance against Arsenal had peeked his curiosity, then her goal at the Academy Stadium in that season definitely grabbed his attention.
He said: “She was a real exciting player in 2017 for Bristol City Women. Lauren was a real impact player for them, a young player that was having many individual moments in big games like against Arsenal, she scored against ourselves at the Academy Stadium, and although she was playing as a striker at the time she had incredible speed and she scored real individual goals.
“We could see she would be a huge asset for us playing as a winger in our style and one we were really keen to bring in.”
After meticulous preparation and research, City finally got their player on 31 May 2018.
“We had a really clear strategy at Manchester City where we wanted to have the best young players around and we did a lot of scouting and recruiting around the Under-17s and development leagues.
“Lauren was a totally different case because she was playing in the league as a young player and she was having a huge impact in games against Arsenal, Chelsea and ourselves so it was a real clear one for us that she was going to be a really exciting player and we had to get out in front and sign her as quickly as possible because she had the profile that was perfect for our team.
“She was a real Bristol girl. She was really keen to continue to help Bristol City Women improve, she was close to her family and it was a long process. We had to show her parents and her family that we wanted to look after Lauren, we wanted to develop her, and we thought she had huge potential not only for a domestic team like ourselves but internationally.
“We saw really clearly she would be a huge player for Manchester City, she would be a huge player for England and I was really thankful that her parents trusted us.” - Nick Cushing.
And Cushing had a little helping hand with securing Lauren’s signature. It came in the form of one of the wingers closest friends.
“I think I was on England camp and Nick Cushing basically put me on a mission to try and persuade Lauren to come to City so I’d like to think I had a big hand in her getting here,” Esme Morgan giggled as she spoke about her friend.
“I was just so excited that she came because I think I’d been in the first team a year before Lauren signed and I was just so buzzing that I had my mate over to play with me.”
But the transition from Bristol to Manchester wasn’t going to happen overnight.
In her first season with City, Lauren made 10 WSL appearances, competing with an array of experienced attacking talent.
“She had to be patient,” Cushing explained. “We knew that she was going to be a really important part of the team and she was going to have to be patient. It was no surprise that in 2019 she was really important, played a lot, contributed a lot and helped us go on and win the double in that season.”
Something Cushing worked on with Lauren was her belief. While she was, and still is, hungry to achieve new heights, she is not someone who always believes her goals are reachable.
For all of her talents on the pitch, Lauren’s attitude and personality off it worked perfectly with the City model.
“She has a huge hunger and huge desire to achieve her potential. At first it is about helping her believe she can be a real important player,” Cushing explained. “She’s so humble, her family are incredibly supportive. They just want her to achieve whether it be at Bristol or Manchester City or England and that’s a huge benefit for a manager when you have a player that just wants to work hard for the team and wants to contribute.”
Lauren’s determination and high energy levels don’t go unnoticed by her teammates either. Despite Hemp and Morgan being at opposite ends of the pitch, the City defender still has a profound appreciation for the intensity the winger brings on match days.
“I think her work ethic,” said Morgan when asked about which of Lauren’s attributes stick out most.
“She’s forever sprinting up and down that left wing tracking back for the team. She’s so aggressive and determined. I always think any loose ball I’m backing Lauren 100% to get there and nick it away from the other opponent and she’s just so direct. She’s someone you can look to if the game is going against you and think if we get Lauren on the ball, we’ve got a chance of getting back into it.
“She’s just a real sort of key figure and talisman for the team. Someone everyone looks to provide a spark in a moment where we need it.”
In February 2020, Cushing oversaw his last game at the Academy Stadium - a match in which Lauren scored a header in our 2-1 win over Arsenal – before joining fellow City Football Group side New York City FC.
He was replaced by Gareth Taylor, had been coaching in City’s academy set-up before making the switch in May 2020.
Like all of Lauren’s coaches before him, Taylor was instantly amazed by Lauren’s pace. However, he felt there was so much more to her game.
“That [her pace] was obviously something that caught the eye but I think her technical ability as well, she’s very smooth in what she does. I think when you play number nine most of the time your shoulders are facing your own goal where as more and more we needed to get Lauren’s shoulders facing the opposition goal and playing out wide allows her to do that .
“I think seeing the space in front of her is important, being able to find the right timings and moments to arrive there. It was more than her pace, it was more than that. She put a lot of energy into the game, she works tremendously hard for the team, she has good quality with her left foot, is a decent finisher and like I say was a very smooth player and technically went past two or three players really well.”
During Taylor’s tenure to date, Lauren has helped City win the 2020 FA Cup and 2022 Continental Cup. But for all of that success, she has maintained the same humility and hunger that Cushing instantly identified when she moved to Manchester.
“Lauren is a player, once you get to know her, who is actually very humble. I find all of the girls have good levels of humility, but the beauty of Lauren is she doesn’t realise how good she is but also how good she can be,” said Taylor with a smile on his face.
“So that’s great to work with, she’s someone who wants to improve, who wants to get better, very honest in her appraisal of where she’s at and how she’s performed.”
And it’s also during her recent years with City where Lauren has flourished on the international stage.
That progress saw her become a central piece in Sarina Wiegman’s victorious England side at Euro 2022. Her former boss at Bristol City was immensely proud of how far the small 17 year old he’d nurtured had come.
“I think I texted her about 10 minutes after the final whistle [of the Euros final],” began Kirk. “It’s great to be seeing her journey and seeing her get success at club and country. And she’s only just started, she’s got so many years ahead of her so I’m sure she’ll bring further success.”
The international success has continued.
Morgan and Hemp and a number of their City team mates were both part of the England team to win the inaugural Women’s Finalissima following a 4-2 victory over Brazil on penalties.
And after achieving such heights on the international stage, the City duo have their mindsets focused on claiming similar accolades.
“We are both so desperate to win the league because that’s not something we’ve done yet,” explained Morgan. “We’ve both won FA Cup and Conti Cup . Myself I’d like to play a bigger role in those tournaments, obviously winning them as a young player you kind of feel a bit on the edges of it so definitely win those again but we’re both determined to win the league because that’s probably one of the things Lauren came here to do.
“There’s probably a couple of seasons where you can say she’s head and shoulders been our best player so I think she definitely deserves to be part of a team that wins the league.”
Taylor, of course, shares that ambition for silverware. And is confident that Lauren will play a crucial role in that potential success. But perhaps what is most exciting, is that City’s head coach believes the winger is yet to reach her final form.
“Lauren has done so much in such a short career to date. In the five years she’s been here she’s been successful at a club level and international level and we see that continuing,” Taylor finished.
“Lauren is someone who wants to feel settled, who wants to feel loved, wants to feel familiar with the people and she has that opportunity here. We’re really excited about where this player can go because like I say she has done so much, she’s got such capabilities and I also think she’s got a lot more to come. She’s still a very young player with a lot of really good football in front of her.”
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