Arsenal Women Round-Up: Walti, Hinds, Godfrey and Borbe

Since there are a few Arsenal Women news stories floating around I thought I would combine them in one post.

Let’s start with Tom Garry from the Guardian reporting that Arsenal are closing in on the signature of Taylor Hinds on a free transfer from Liverpool. On June 9, we reported Arsenal’s interest in the player and our understanding was always that this deal was very likely to happen and certainly still understand that to be the case.

Meanwhile, Kathryn Batte from the Telegraph reports that London City Lionesses and Aston Villa have had bids accepted by Arsenal for young winger Freya Godfrey, who has had loan spells at Ipswich, Charlton and spent the second half of last season on loan at London City Lionesses.

The Gooner Fanzine’s Freddie Cardy is reporting that Arsenal are interested in 24-year-old German goalkeeper Anekke Borbe, whose contract expires at Wolfsburg this summer. If you read our Arsenal Women Weekly Newsletter from Monday about Manu Zinsberger, you will see we indicated our understanding that she could be set to leave the club this summer. One to keep an eye on.

On the Euro 2025 front, it seems Lia Walti, who will captain hosts Switzerland for the tournament, has been struggling with a knee problem as the Swiss prepare for their opening game next Wednesday. Earlier in the summer, Walti gave an interview to the Swiss press indicating that she has been managing pain in her knee in recent months and accepts that surgery is unlikely to ease that pain and she may have to manage it for the remainder of her career.

It seems she picked a fresh problem in a recent Nations League game against Norway. On her selection for the tournament, Switzerland coach Pia Sundhage said, ‘A Lia who is not at 100% is better than no Lia!’ Apparently the current plan is for her to play 45 minutes against Czech Republic in their final pre tournament friendly.

For those of you that listened to the most recent episode of the Arsenal Women Arsecast last week, I mention on the pod that Arsenal have interest in a wide player but that they face competition. For avoidance of doubt, as reported by Emma Sanders of the BBC on the same day we released the pod, we believe that Arsenal have interest in Liverpool winger Olivia Smith but that Chelsea do too. We also understand Liverpool would be incredibly reluctant to sell given they have the Canadian under contract for another two years. Another one to keep an eye on and that we will try to stay across this summer.

England Lionesses announced their Euros squad numbers today. Arsenal players will wear the following numbers:

6.Leah Williamson(c)
9.Beth Mead
17.Michelle Agyemang
18.Chloe Kelly
22.Lotte Wubben-Moy
23.Alessia Russo

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