Millie Bright says England strength ‘ridiculous’ as build-up continues for Euros

Vice-captain Millie Bright says England boss Sarina Wiegman has a “ridiculous” group of players to choose from and that the competitiveness among them is helping the team reach “new levels”.

The Lionesses have this week begun the first phase of their preparations for this summer’s home European Championship, training at St George’s Park after Wiegman named a provisional 28-player squad.

That is set to be brought down to a final 23 next week ahead of a trio of warm-up matches against Belgium, Holland and Switzerland, with England then playing Austria at Old Trafford on July 6 to open the tournament.

They head into those fixtures having gone unbeaten in 11 games so far under Wiegman, during which there have been nine victories, 72 goals scored, two conceded, and they won the Arnold Clark Cup.

Defender Bright said: “It is exciting. The talent that this group has is incredible and the pool of players that can be picked from is ridiculous.

“There are some special players in our group and unbelievable people. It is really raising the levels of our team.”

A year ago England were coming to an end of a spell under interim boss Hege Riise – who would subsequently oversee the Great Britain side at the Tokyo Olympics – having played three friendlies during the Norwegian’s tenure, beating Northern Ireland and then losing to France and Canada.

The talent that this group has is incredible and the pool of players that can be picked from is ridiculous.- Millie Bright

Asked if she thought England were in a better place now, Bright said: “100 per cent. I think we have gone to new levels, and there are still levels to come from us.

“That’s the beauty of the squad – we’re all just trying to get the best out of each other day in, day out, and