Sonia Bompastor<\/a>.<\/p>\nWe begin by asking her about her first season as a professional at Chelsea, and it soon becomes clear that she’s keen to keep hold of her shirts as a memento of her achievements in blue. <\/p>\n
2021\/22<\/p>\n
I keep shirts from all my seasons. I\u2019ve got a nice collection now. I frame the major ones: first goals, debuts, things like that, and the rest I keep safely stored.<\/p>\n
It was obviously a massive moment to pull on the shirt for the first time, especially for my family, because I\u2019d been supporting Chelsea since I was a kid. I was here in the Academy, so to wear the kit for the first time professionally, I was really happy.<\/p>\n
I felt like I was back home.<\/p>\n
2022\/23<\/p>\n
All kits feel different, but yeah, this one did feel nice. It had a little button at the top, which I liked.<\/p>\n
I played at Stamford Bridge for the first time in that one. The Bridge is the Bridge, you know? It has so much history and so many great memories there. I’ve scored a couple of hat-tricks there, so I guess it’s always been a nice place for me.<\/p>\n
Thinking back to the game with Lyon that season, that was probably one of the craziest games I’ve played. The clock was up to 120 minutes, and then, obviously, I won the penalty and Maren (Mjelde), as she does best, slotted it away.<\/p>\n
I wouldn\u2019t say that was my breakthrough season, but I\u2019d describe it as my Chelsea breakthrough season; it was the season that I was consistently playing, starting games and having an impact. <\/p>\n
I guess the award [PFA Young Player of the Year] at the end of the season showed that.<\/p>\n
2023\/24<\/p>\n
The Bridge feels kind of like a big playground to me; I think that’s what football pitches should feel like. <\/p>\n
It’s where you want to go and play and express yourself, and I definitely feel I can do that there. I\u2019ve kept a few of the shirts from that season, actually.<\/p>\n
2024\/25<\/p>\n
I always liked the look of this shirt, but I didn\u2019t wear it much as I didn’t play much that year. I had quite a few injuries, so it wasn\u2019t one that I created too many memories in. My mentality is always, \u201cWhat\u2019s next?\u201d, so I don\u2019t dwell on that too much.<\/p>\n
2025\/26<\/p>\n
I scored a few goals in this kit \u2013\u00a0so I can’t complain! We had long-sleeved shirts in this one, which I loved. I do like a long sleeve. So, I guess I felt free in it because when you feel good, you are usually happier and you play better.<\/p>\n
It’s also the shirt that was on the desk when I signed my new contract. I think the club obviously have massive ambitions for what we want to achieve, and my new contract shows that they have trust and faith in me as well.<\/p>\n
2026\/27<\/p>\n
What do I want to achieve in next season’s kit? That’s an easy one. I hope to win all the trophies possible! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lauren James has become synonymous with the Chelsea kit, having grown up in our Academy, returning as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-472027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}