ESPN is reporting that Bay FC have agreed a deal to sign Jenna Nighswonger from Arsenal for a fee of around £150k. This reflects information Arseblog News had last week (minus the fee, we didn’t know that) but we didn’t feel we had the story well sourced enough to run it.
Nighswonger joined the club from Gotham in January 2025 and immediately struggled for minutes at Arsenal. She had wanted to leave the club on loan last summer when Taylor Hinds joined from Liverpool, Arsenal held onto her because they knew they could not bring Smilla Holmberg in until January.
Nighswonger then joined WSL side Aston Villa on loan in January 2026 and the deal included an option to buy, but that option was not pursued at the end of the loan deal. Jenna’s squad number was reallocated to Ona Batlle this summer and Nighswonger did not join up with the club for pre-season and has been training in the US while the deal with Bay was thrashed out.
Bay have endured a slow first half of the NWSL season and need reinforcements, with Nighswonger likely to be their first signing this summer as they aim to kickstart their season with them currently five points adrift of the playoff places.