Few 20-year-olds would confidently banter with Sam Kerr about who will finish the season at Chelsea with more goals. Aggie Beever-Jones found herself doing just that towards the end of last year after the former academy player scored five in five WSL games.
A cruel twist of fate ended their competition before it got going, with the Australian striker, on four league goals, the latest player to suffer a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury. Kerr was injured running in Morocco, where Chelsea spent some time before the season restarted after Christmas.
Speaking from Morocco, and before Kerr’s knee injury, Beever-Jones, now tasked with stepping up in her teammate’s absence, reflected on an electric start to the season and the mouthwatering prospect of playing Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. “I don’t think I ever thought this would happen,” says the forward. “As cliche as it is, I’m living the dream right now.”
Beever-Jones is a Chelsea fan from a Chelsea family and is a self-confessed fantasy football addict. She came through the Blues’ academy and in 2020-21 made one FA Cup and two league appearances for the senior side before being sent out on loan. First with Bristol City, where she scored seven goals in 27 games in all competitions. Last season, at Everton, she hit three goals in 21 games.
Emma Hayes has made no secret of the fact that it can be a long process for players to achieve the standards she demands in the first team . Before the new season, on the introduction of her new signings, the Chelsea manager said: “It always takes time for players to settle into the environment because of the level of play and the intensity of the training. The expectations and demands don’t just happen in a short period.”
That can be frustrating for fans, who are desperate to see exciting new prospects thrive, but the careful introduction of Lauren James after her move from Manchester United is testament to the patient preparation of players by Hayes, who was “building Lauren for the long term”.
Beever-Jones is the latest player to be reaping the benefits of putting trust in the manager and it was an attentiveness during her loan spells that made her think a Chelsea return was likely. “It’s all dependent on how well you do on loan and obviously anything can happen, you could get an injury,” she says.
“I’ve always made short-term goals. I did well at Bristol and that’s when me and Chelsea spoke a lot and we felt the next step for me was to go out on loan to a WSL side. I had a few clubs come knocking at the door and I think Everton seemed like the best fit. Chelsea had a good relationship with Brian [Sørensen, the Everton coach] which I think really helped us narrow in on what I needed to work on.”
There were always underlying fears of not coming home, though. “There are moments where you can be a bit uncertain on what the next step might be,” says Beever-Jones. “But the Chelsea staff were brilliant at keeping me up to date with what was going through their heads and listening to what was going through mine.”
Chelsea have been repaid by her performances this season. Before the last England camp of the year, Beever-Jones was the highest-scoring English player in the WSL. She wasn’t called up, but Sarina Wiegman said she was in “our conversations” and hopes “she just keeps improving and gives us headaches again with our selection”.
“Nice to hear,” says Beever-Jones. “But I don’t really ever want to get too caught up on it and think I’ve made it before I have, because I’ve still got a long way to go in my career.
“We can be guilty of it as a young player, wanting everything straight away, and there’s no harm in me being in the under-23s and getting that game time there. As long as I’m making Emma and Sarina happy, then I’m happy.”
Keeping a cool head is very much the Chelsea way. A tough 4-1 defeat by Arsenal at the start of December saw the Blues overtaken by their London rivals, but the following week Arsenal dropped points at Tottenham and Chelsea were top again with a win over Bristol City.
Now, they play Manchester United to restart their league campaign after coming from behind against West Ham in the FA Cup last weekend. As a Chelsea fan, playing at Stamford Bridge is special. Beever-Jones started in their last outing there and scored in the 5-1 defeat of Liverpool.
“Every time I talk about it I just have a massive smile on my face,” she says. “I’ve watched it back a fair few times. That whole day was just an absolute dream come true and having my family there was the icing on the cake.
“I did a knee slide as well. I don’t think I even dreamt as a kid of doing a knee slide at Stamford Bridge. I’m just so happy with everything at the moment and I’ve got to keep doing what I’m doing.”
