A guide to Arsenal Women’s summer transfer business
This summer, Arsenal Women brought in four new players and said goodbye to five senior players with a further two joining Brighton on loan. The contracts of Amanda Ilestedt, Lina Hurtig and Teyah Goldie expired and their departures were announced before the end of last season. Laura Wienroither’s permanent departure came as no big surprise. […] The post A guide to Arsenal Women’s summer transfer business appeared first on Arseblog News - the Arsenal news site.
RR aka Rishi-Raj
This summer, Arsenal Women brought in four new players and said goodbye to five senior players with a further two joining Brighton on loan. The contracts of Amanda Ilestedt, Lina Hurtig and Teyah Goldie expired and their departures were announced before the end of last season. Laura Wienroither’s permanent departure came as no big surprise. The exit of Lia Walti to Juventus is the one that perhaps surprised fans and certainly a departure that carried a significant emotional impact.
The Gunners broke the world transfer record by making Olivia Smith the first £1m player in women’s football history, made the loan signing of Chloe Kelly permanent and beefed out the squad with the signings of versatile full-back Taylor Hinds and German goalkeeper Anneke Borbe. Arsenal made a move for Swiss midfielder Geraldine Reuteler at the end of the transfer window but Frankfurt did not want to sell. Here is a guide to Arsenal Women’s summer business.
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Olivia Smith, Liverpool, £1m
Arsenal’s interest in Smith goes back to way before the end of last season, Liverpool made it very clear from the off that £1m was going to be the price for the 21-year-old. Ultimately, Arsenal met the price and did so early in the summer. Arsenal have had a need for a wide player for some years now with too heavy a burden placed on Mead and Foord.
Mead and Foord are both 30 too, so some succession planning is required into the bargain. Smith is capable of playing on the left and the right and adds some much needed pace to the Gunners attack. The Canadian is also very good at creating her own shots off both feet. Smith’s arrival finally means that the Gunners have four high quality, international wide players to choose from which they haven’t had in the proper sense for the last three years.
Chloe Kelly, Manchester City, free
Kelly joined the club on loan in the final minutes of the January transfer window after falling out with then City boss Gareth Taylor. Kelly needed game time to cement her place in the England squad for this summer’s Euros. What started out as a marriage of convenience quickly became a love affair.
The 27-year-old instantly became a pivotal figure in Slegers’ Arsenal team, starting the Champions League semi-final second leg and the final against Barcelona. Kelly can play on the left and the right but her ability to move into central positions and provide a creative outlet demonstrated a skillset not immediately obvious from her City days where she was devastating as a one-on-one winger with a devilish cross. She retains that devilish cross, of course and, like Taylor Hinds and Ebere Eze, Kelly is a returning Arsenal academy graduate.
Taylor Hinds, Liverpool, free
Another Arsenal academy graduate, Hinds left for Everton on the same day as Chloe Kelly back in 2018. Hinds then moved across Merseyside and established herself as Liverpool’s vice-captain. The 26-year-old largely played as a left wing-back for Liverpool, though she is capable of playing as a right-back or in midfield too.
The Jamaican international was a slightly curious signing for a lot of Arsenal fans given Jenna Nighswonger, a very similar player, signed in January and with a natural right-back in Laura Wienroither departing the club, many fans expected to see more natural right-back cover. However, Renee clearly has a type at full-back, Hinds is comfortable inverting into midfield and can also deliver a really good cross from the left, she adds to Arsenal’s squad depth and has a plethora of WSL experience.
Anekke Borbe, Wolfsburg, free
Another signing that raised some eyebrows in the fan base given the presence of Daphne van Domselaar and Manu Zinsberger, with van Domselaar a very clear first choice as things stand. Zinsberger has decided to stay and fight for her place, so it will be very interesting to see how the goalkeeping union shapes up beneath her.
Borbe fought her way into the Wolfsburg team last season with usual first choice Merle Frohms clearly intent on leaving the club this summer. I have to confess I don’t know enough about Borbe to be firm about what she will bring or her chances of winning the number 1, or indeed number 2, role. This is a signing that very much has a pin in it ahead of the season.
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Lia Walti, Juventus, undisclosed fee
This is the departure that required a grieving period for Arsenal fans. The Swiss midfielder joined the Gunners in 2018 and if you were discussing the best Arsenal signing of the WSL era, Walti would very much be in the conversation. A first class midfielder and leader, Walti’s ability to slalom away from pressure and play equally off both feet made her a unicorn of a footballer.
Aged 32, injuries had begun to bite a little, perhaps playing in a slightly less physical league in Italy might add some years to Walti’s career. She will certainly be a regular starter at Juve which she might not have been at Arsenal now that Mariona plays in a deeper midfield role. A first class player and person, Walti will be sorely missed but that she departed with a Champions League winners medal in her pocket feels just.
Rosa Kafaji, Brighton, season loan
The Swede joined the club last summer from Hacken as an exciting creative player. Kafaji came into a squad that was toiling against low blocks looking to add an x-factor. However, her out of possession game needs quite a bit of work and the arrival of Mariona last summer probably limited her opportunities.
Once Renee Slegers took the reins last winter, Arsenal became a more fluid outfit and their low block issues evaporated. Brighton coach Dario Vidosic has a strong record of developing young talent and she will join fellow Gunner Michelle Agyemang on loan on the south coast. Kafaji needs minutes to fine tune her out of possession game and rebuild her confidence because the creative talent is beyond doubt.
Michelle Agyemang, Brighton, season loan
Agyemang became a household name during the summer after her goals from the bench for England at the Euros. There, Sarina Wiegman used the 19-year-old as a Plan B from the bench. Michelle played on loan at Brighton last season too but only started three WSL games, her international ascension has arrived before her club career has truly taken off.
Agyemang was an incredible Plan B option for England at centre-forward but she needs regular minutes to round out her all-round game because her talent will merit a more significant role than a Hail Mary from the sub’s bench if nurtured properly. Arsenal have Russo and Blackstenius in her way at the moment but the latter’s contract expires at the end of the season, which may end up creating space for Agyemang next season.
Lina Hurtig, Fiorentina, free
The Swedish forward joined the club from Juventus in the summer of 2022 and her three-year spell in North London was decimated by injuries. She made two WSL starts in her three seasons and they were both in her debut season as a series of muscle injuries constantly interrupted her progress.
Hurtig largely played on the left-wing and her aerial prowess was her superpower, especially when it came to attacking the back post. Hurtig even played some minutes at right-back at the end of last season to counteract some of Everton’s prowess on setpieces. Hurtig’s contract expired this summer and it was clear the player and the club needed to move on.
Amanda Ilestedt, Frankfurt, free
The Swedish centre-half was signed from PSG in the summer of 2023. Ilestedt was really a short-term signing to cover for the fact that Leah Williamson ruptured her ACL at the end of the 2022-23 season. Ilestedt was 30, a right-sided centre-half and she had played under Jonas Eidevall before.
It was a ‘plug-in and play’ signing while Williamson recuperated. Surely enough, once Williamson returned, happily Ilestedt became pregnant, giving birth to her daughter Mila in August 2024. Understandably, this meant we didn’t see much of Ilestedt during her final year and a bit at the club, but she had essentially done the job she was signed for at that point.
Teyah Goldie, London City Lionesses, free
Goldie was an Arsenal academy prospect and centre-half who made her debut at the age of 16. She initially had a loan spell at Watford which was curtailed by an ACL injury. Incredibly, Goldie ruptured her ACL again almost immediately after her recovery, which set her career back yet again.
Goldie spent the 2024-25 season on loan at LCL and became a core member of their promotion push, playing at centre-half and right-back. But with five centre-halves already in the Gunners squad and with the highly rated Katie Reid emerging too, the squad was too crowded for Arsenal fan Teyah and her contract was not renewed.
Freya Godfrey, London City Lionesses, undisclosed
The 20-year-old Arsenal academy product spent the second half of last season on loan at LCL having also enjoyed temporary spells at Ipswich Town and Charlton Athletic in WSL2. Godfrey is a talented winger who made her WSL debut for the club just before her 18th birthday, the signings of Chloe Kelly and Olivia Smith just mean there was no space for Godfrey who, after three loan spells, needed to look after her own future too.
On top of this, youngsters Naomi Williams (Bristol City), Vivienne Lia (Nottingham Forest), Maddy Earl (Ipswich Town), Jessie Gale (Portsmouth) and Cecily Wellesley-Smith (Leicester City) will spend 2025-26 on loan to further their development.
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