Former Centre of Excellence players selected for England u17

Three former Middlesex Centre of Excellence girls have been selected to represent England in the upcoming Under 17’s Women’s World Cup in Jordan.

Georgia Valentine, Anna Filbey and Laura Hooper all enjoyed time in the Middlesex coaching centre and have travelled with the 21-strong squad to the Far East for the tournament.

Laura Hooper (pictured), 17, was with Middlesex for two seasons before moving on to her current club, Arsenal, at under 15 level. Laura captained the Arsenal Ladies u17 team to the league and cup double last season from midfield and is described as a box-to-box attacking midfielder.

Anna Filbey followed a similar path to Laura, however, after spending two seasons with Middlesex at under 10’s, left to join Arsenal slightly earlier in her career. Filbey, just 16, is also a midfielder and is well known for her set-piece and long-range shooting ability.

Georgia Valentine spent the longest amount of time of the three with Middlesex. Signed at under 15 level from Chelsea, Georgia spent three seasons at Middlesex before moving on this summer to sign for Reading development in the WSL. During her time here, she was selected for England EPC camps and began to attract international interest in her final year.

Former Goalkeeping Coach, Craig Nicholson, said: ‘All of the coaches that have worked with the girls over their time here are immensely proud of this achievement. Seeing girls like Georgia develop from where she was when she joined three years ago to now, has been a real pleasure, but all the credit must go to her for her hard work. I wish all three girls and the team, all the best of luck at the U17 World Cup in Jordan’.

The World Cup will take place between 30th September and 21st October and England will be up against Brazil, Nigeria and North Korea in the group stages. For more information, see: //www.thefa.com/womens-girls-football

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