Chelsea defender Millie Bright admits it will be "weird" not playing under Emma Hayes next season but says she is "optimistic" about what the future holds for the Blues.
Hayes left the club at the end of the 2023/24 campaign after a trophy-laden 12 years in south-west London. She signed off in style by guiding Chelsea to a fifth consecutive Women's Super League (WSL) title before taking up her new role as head coach of the US Women's national team.
While Bright, who Hayes brought to the club in 2014, concedes replacing the departing manager will be a difficult task, she insists she is relishing the chance to take on a new challenge at Kingsmeadow. "There’s been a lot of change but then again it’s the business side of football," she said in a press conference on Tuesday.
"It’s something that’s always going to happen whether it’s players or managers, people come and go. Of course it will be weird (without) a manager that I’ve played under for several years but it’s about having that open mindset and being optimistic for what’s to come.
"It’s another challenge and as everyone knows I’m very competitive and I’ll thrive under the challenge that comes our way."
Hayes' successor has not yet been named by the club but current Lyon boss Sonia Bompastor is expected to be unveiled as the new Chelsea head coach in the coming days. The 43-year-old is one of the most highly-rated coaches in the women's game, having won the Champions League as both a player and a manager.
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According to BBC Sport, Chelsea and Lyon agreed to delay Bompastor's unveiling until after last weekend's Champions League final, which the French side lost 2-0. But Bright remained tight-lipped on the matter, insisting her focus was purely on international matters ahead of England's upcoming double-header against France.
"I’m in the same position as everybody else," she said. "We’re just waiting to see what happens but as of now, (my) England hat is on and my only focus is the two games coming up."
England will resume their EURO 2025 qualifying campaign when they host Herve Renard's side at St James' Park on Friday before facing the French in Saint-Etienne on June 4. The Lionesses are currently second in their group, having drawn with Sweden and beaten the Republic of Ireland in the last international window, while France won both of their games against the same opposition.
But, while Bright acknowledges that the upcoming matches will be a challenge, she believes England have the quality to beat France and move to the top of their qualifying group.
"(Winning both games) would be huge," she said. "It’s an extremely competitive group. France are an incredible team, they pose lots of threats. As always we don’t go out for anything other than wins."
Should Bright play on Friday, it will be her first England appearance since October, with the centre-back having spent much of last season sidelined with a knee injury. And she admits the past year has been grueling as she has battled to return to full fitness.
"I think this has been the hardest (injury) out of all of them," she said. "There’s so many factors even when you’re injured. You still have responsibilities.
"As club captain you still have to be present and I’ve always said I’m not the type of player where I’m injured and (that’s that).If the team lose, I lose. If they win, I win. There’s still a responsibility but being injured is the hardest thing because you can’t always contribute in ways that you’d like to.
"It’s definitely been the most tasking period for myself for more reasons than one. But that’s football and these are the challenges you face and you have to make the best decisions to overcome them and mine was making sure that I made the end of the season to put myself in a position where I could be selected."
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