Who was Arsenal Women’s priciest summer transfer signing? by Michelle
The WSL summer transfer window closed this past Thursday, July 14th. Arsenal completed a midfielder deal to close out their 2023 summer transfer window. Amanda Ilestedt, Alessia Russo, and Cloe Lacasse joined earlier in the summer, and Laia Codina joined near the end of August. Those four signings meant that the defence and attack were taken care of; it was the midfield that remained. On deadline day Arsenal signed Australian midfielder Kyra Cooney-Cross to fill that gap.
Some may regard Kyra’s signing as just another signing, but it was actually Arsenal Women’s marquee signing of the summer. The Gunner Women, as per Aftonbladet, paid not less than SEK 3.8 million, which is well over €320k, to sign her, the most they’ve ever paid for a player. The price also places the Australian as the third most expensive female player in terms of the cost paid for her acquisition, with only Keira Walsh, who moved to Barcelona in 2022 for €470k, and Jill Roord, who moved to Manchester City for over €350k, transferring for more.
It is worth noting that in the winter, Arsenal wanted to make Alessia Russo the most expensive buy at a reported £500k, but the deal fell through. A deal to also make Mary Earps the most expensive goalie this summer failed, when Manchester United did not accept Arsenal’s bid for the world class keeper.
Before Kyra was the most expensive Arsenal women’s buy, Lina Hurtig was; they brought her on board in 2022 in a deal of around €136k.Jonas Eidevall now has a large roster on which he can rely; provided his players stay fit, Arsenal have a real change of winning the WSL, as all focus is on that after missing out on next season’s Champions League football.
What do you think of the way women’s football transfer fees are increasing Gooners? Sure, the fees are tiny in comparison to the men’s, but that’s a big transfer fee to secure our new 21 year old Aussie midfielder huh? I think Arsenal are making a serious statement of intent, don’t you?
COYGW!
Michelle Maxwell
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It would seem that bottom line amounts of actual cash changing hands on women’s transfer fees (and wages) remains a mystery. Although the sums involved are on the increase they still lag way behind other top female athletes.