Bompastor: Lauren James fine, just being managed

Photo: James Boyes from UK / CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor has confirmed Lauren James is fit after the forward was left out of Saturday's 7-0 friendly win over Auckland FC at Eden Park, with the Women's Champions League qualifying rounds on the horizon.

"Yeah, she's fine," Bompastor said. "It's just a little bit of management. It's important to have everyone ready for the Champions League game, which is coming soon. Maybe today it was not appropriate for her to feature and to get some minutes, but she trained yesterday, and she's fine."

Chelsea's Champions League third qualifying round matches are scheduled for 27 August and 2 September, giving the club clear motivation to handle James cautiously at this stage of pre-season.

More than 15,000 supporters attended the match at Eden Park in Auckland, and Bompastor acknowledged the reception the club received in New Zealand.

"It's always a pleasure to have that many people who are coming to watch the game," she said. "That's why we do this job, and we need to enjoy those moments. We play because at the end of the day, we want to celebrate with them."

Chelsea have been active in the summer transfer window, bringing in Giulia Dragoni, Nelly Las, Katie McCabe, Manaka Matsukubo and Melvine Malard. Bompastor said the depth of the squad is central to her planning across multiple competitions.

"You need to have a good balance in your squad in terms of quality, but also numbers," she said. "We play in so many competitions. All our players are international players, so they play so many games during a season."

Bompastor added that selection headaches are a welcome sign of squad strength. "I always said I prefer to be in the position of having some headaches to select the players because it means I have a lot of quality rather than looking for players and options."