‘I have not written this book to tear anyone down’, says Earps after receiving backlash

Mary Earps insisted that she did not write her autobiography “to tear anyone down” after the former England goalkeeper received backlash for her comments regarding Hannah Hampton and Sarina Wiegman.

Extracts from her book were published by the Guardian, in which Earps claimed Lionesses boss Wiegman was rewarding “bad behaviour” when she recalled Hampton to the England squad.

Earps revealed that she decided to retire from international football after Wiegman was set to make Hampton her first-choice goalkeeper, despite the Chelsea player initially being dropped for being “disruptive and unreliable”.

Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor praised Hampton’s response to the news, while also feeling like Wiegman had been disrespected.

Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Earps claimed her quotes have been “distorted” and taken completely out of context.

“It's been really overwhelming to see how some things have been distorted a little bit,” Earps told BBC Sport.

“I've not written this book to tear anyone down in any shape or form. That is not who I am as a person. This is real life. It has consequences. It isn't a drama.

“Women's football has entered into a space that has become a bit like entertainment, so your life gets picked apart for people's amusement sometimes. But it's not amusing, you know?

“I don't think it's a fair reflection and I think it's been taken out of the entirety of the context. I speak about so many different things and it's hard to see only certain things being pulled out and really focused on.

“Hindsight is a beautiful thing and I would maybe do things differently with the information I have now, but I don't think I have regrets.

“If you do things with integrity and the right intentions then I don't think you should have regrets in life, no matter what the outcome is.”