Mary Earps still hopeful of Sarina Wiegman reconciliation despite explosive autobiography comments

Mary Earps remains hopeful of a reconciliation with Sarina Wiegman, despite her criticism of the England head coach in her explosive autobiography.

The former England No 1 details the breakdown of her relationship with Wiegman in All In: Football, Life and Learning to be Unapologetically Me (Bonnier Books, £22), which ultimately led to her retirement on the eve of the Lionesses' European Championship title defence in May.

In her book, she criticises Wiegman for 'rewarding bad behaviour' by recalling the previously dropped Hannah Hampton to the squad, as well as stating that there had been a 'clear lack of care for me and my welfare' by the England set-up prior to her being dropped.

Hampton went on to star for the Lionesses at the tournament in Switzerland, saving two penalties in the quarter-final shoot-out before repeating the feat in the final against Spain.

Now, Earps has revealed that she is hopeful she and Wiegman can 'draw a line' under the latest controversy.

Earps told Sky News: 'I will always have a tremendous amount of respect for Sarina – I did when we started working together and I do now.

'I think she's a fantastic coach and she's just won her third consecutive European Championship – for me that sums it up.

'I think that hopefully we'll have a conversation in the future and, after everything's settled down and time's passed, we can draw a line under everything.'

Prior to its publication on Thursday, parts of Earps' book were serialised in The Guardian, with Earps saying the strong reaction to the extracts had been 'distorted' and that she had not intended to 'tear anyone down'.

She added: 'We both acknowledged that we'd had a difference of opinion and a different perspective on certain things, and we weren't quite seeing things the same way.

'But that doesn't take away from the memories we've shared and the respect that's there, certainly from my side.'

In her autobiography, Earps - who captained the side on a number of occasions - reveals that she felt 'blindsided' by Wiegman's decision to rotate her goalkeepers from February 2024, when Hampton started ahead of her in a friendly against Austria.

She describes how she felt the decision to play Hampton ahead of her 'was a choice that went against my core values.'

'Sarina rarely rotated the team like this and no one person’s behaviour had ever counted more than the group’s wellbeing – that was a culture we all respected,' she wrote.

'The transparency and trust that we’d all thrived on had been replaced with an obscurity and a distancing. I felt totally blindsided.'

She also details how she felt unsupported by the England set-up when it became clear that Wiegman the future of the No 1 jersey was heading towards the younger Chelsea goalkeeper.

She wrote: 'I didn’t speak to Kate, the team psychologist who used to come and find me to provide support around training sessions, a priority for all the starting players.

'In training sessions, the individual feedback I was used to from coaches, including things to work towards, was now replaced by an attitude that was neutral, passive.

'I was still being praised as a leader within the group but where Sarina had once solicited my opinions, inviting me to leadership and captains’ groups or tactics meetings, I was no longer required and was now kept out.

'I felt there was a clear lack of care for me and my welfare because I wasn’t a person who needed taking care of anymore.'