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England squad: Lionesses recall Lauren James after injury

Lauren James and Lotte Wubben-Moy have returned to Sarina Wiegman's 25-player squad for the friendlies against Germany and South Africa.

James and Wubben-Moy were absent from July's Euro 2025 qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland and Sweden due to injury. England have already qualified for the summer tournament with a second place finish in their group, behind France.

Wiegman has recalled Aston Villa's Lucy Parker for the first time in a year following injury, while Orlando Pride's Anna Moorhouse retains her place in the squad as her record-breaking NWSL season continues. Jess Carter and Esme Morgan, who both moved to the NWSL over the summer, remain in the squad.

The Dutch coach said the players plying their trade abroad was of no issue to her selection policy, though noted the extra travel would be taken into account.

"I think that league [the NWSL] is very good too. It's different, it's another environment, but you get exposed to a lot. They get the playing minutes and they're both enjoying it too," Wiegman said.

"Yes, the challenge is of course the travelling. They're getting used to travelling now in the U.S., too, because there's a lot of travelling. I thought England was a lot of travelling, but in the U.S. it's even more travel, so they get used to that."

Goalkeepers Khiara Keating and Ellie Roebuck are not in the squad following a lack of minutes, while Mary Earps, who made the high-profile move to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, is included despite a rocky start to her life in France.

Manchester City's Chloe Kelly was included in the squad despite not playing a minute for her club in the WSL this season, and Wiegman was quick to defend the match-winner from the European Championship final in 2022.

"She's in a hard position. I think City's in a very good position, which shows that they stepped up with quality," the coach said.

"There's huge competition [for minutes] going on there at a very, very high level and she's competing for that too. Not getting the minutes that she hopes for and we do [hope for], but she built credit with us that she wasn't in doubt for us to bring her in."

England play two home international fixtures this month against Germany at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 25 and South Africa in Coventry on Oct. 29 in preparation of their Euros defence in Switzerland next summer.