When it comes to a country's player pool, Sarina Wiegman is certainly one of the more blessed international managers in the women's game right now. The England boss can call upon world-class players across various positions and has incredible depth in her squad, with the names on her bench making for enviable reading for most of her peers. However, that is not to say that the Lionesses do not have gaps in their squad, and even their starting line-up, that they need fresh faces to step up and fill as attention turns towards the 2027 Women's World Cup.
There are several positions where that is particularly obvious. Left-back has been the Lionesses' stand-out issue for a long time, because there is still not a dependable or natural option for the role, and Taylor Hinds' call-up this month is as clear an indication as any that England are trying to address that. Then there are positions like right-back, occupied by a stalwart like Lucy Bronze but with little in the way of back-up behind her. That's a big reason why there is such a debate over Maya Le Tissier's role in the Lionesses team.
It's a similar situation in the deeper midfield roles. While England have plenty in the way of options to be their No.10 - picking from the likes of Ella Toone, Grace Clinton, Jess Park and even Lauren James - it's quite different when it comes to the positions nailed down by Keira Walsh, as the holding midfielder, and Georgia Stanway, in the box-to-box role.
Call-ups this month for Lucia Kendall, Missy Bo Kearns and Laura Blindkilde Brown, who combine for just two caps between them, is evidence of Wiegman looking to build the depth behind her trusty first-choice duo, and it is the in-form Blindkilde Brown who feels best-placed to show she can assert herself higher up the midfield pecking order as the Lionesses enter a new tournament cycle.