Arsenal Women Newsletter- August Mailbag
What role do you see Hinds having this season? Renee tried to give her more of a starting positions towards the end of 2025, but that didn't last long and McCabe took back & held onto the LB spot for the rest of the season. With Batlle now at the club, can only imagine Hinds will again see limited minutes, and with not being as versatile as Holmberg, plus being a World Cup year (if UEFA doesn't boycott) - wonder how Taylor may feel having another backseat role. Em
I think Taylor will play plenty. Firstly, Renee has signed a full-back in each of her transfer windows as manager. Flexibility and rotation in those positions is a big priority for her, full-backs being switched in-game is going to be very common in my view. Smilla was essentially a back-up to Emily Fox last year and we saw plenty of her still.
I also found it interesting that Renee switched Fox to left-back at Lyon in the UWCL semi-final last season. Hinds, Fox and Batlle have all shown a proclivity to play on both sides during their careers. I also think some of the full-backs will have particular qualities that Renee will want against particular opponents. I am fascinated to see whether strong partnerships or pairings develop between certain full-backs and certain wingers.
As for her England spot, I think Hinds is pretty safe because England are light on left-backs. It's a big part of the reason England spoke to her when she had played some friendlies with Jamaica, Sarina knew it was a weak spot in the squad.
Bit of a broader topic but it will affect AWFC players, but what are your views on UEFA countries potentially boycotting upcoming women's FIFA youth tournaments and upcoming World Cup qualifiers (and by extension then the WWC next year)? I am really torn on it as I think Infantino needs to go (and FIFA also needs complete change in how it is run by its executive) but it feels unfair that the women's game is potentially going to be collateral damage in rows predominantly caused by the men's game (even though selling off FIFA/ad breaks etc.. would cascade consequences into the women's game of course). Overall I think this would probably be a necessary evil if the guy just won't go but I would be interested on your take on this Tim Alastair Wood
I am broadly with you Alastair. I think it’s another one of those ‘two things can be true’ situations where there is a need for Infantino to go for the greater good of football and there is never a good time for a big political battle like this. But I also think there is no world in which any such threats are made a year before the men’s World Cup and that is simply because everyone involved considers risking the WWC to be of lower collateral importance. My feeling is that it’s extremely unlikely that a strike would take place and I would expect the Women’s World Cup to go ahead as planned. I think the disruption and difficulty much more likely to be in the immediate term with the Women’s U20 World Cup and maybe even the qualification playoff rounds.
I'd be interested to know if you personally know of any links to CBs? I'm aware we're likely to be keeping Bella Cowley which is a great opportunity for her as an Academy player but I'd be grateful to know of any links to more experienced players! Elspeth Dawe
It has been very quiet on that front pretty indefinitely for me (and that might be down to me and my information and not totally illustrative of what is actually happening). I have heard some whispers about players that have been watched or monitored but nothing I have been especially motivated to dig into. Mapi Leon and Gabby George are the only players who have moved in the WSL who remotely fit the profile I think Arsenal need and I don’t really think Arsenal ought to have signed either.
Renee van Asten is the big defensive talent to move this summer and I am not aware that Arsenal pursued that strongly but, again, she is probably not really the profile that Arsenal need. Alice Sombath is a really good buy for Spurs but I just don’t think she would have solved enough of Arsenal’s issues to pursue.
However, more generally the NWSL window re-opening in mid-July and the NWSL restarting is a key area for the remainder of the window, teams are starting to get a sense of their playoff chances or else what they need to do to consolidate, team selections really become solidified and focus is turning to the World Cup next year. The high impact player rule for salaries is still pretty new, I think we will see some transfers between these two leagues yet. Whether Arsenal are involved in that remains to be seen.
Other than DvD (and Kyra’s personal circumstances), do you expect everyone else to be fit to start the season (provided no injuries on their training camp or in the pre-season games)? Lara Kerrison
This is where I am concerned about the centre-back situation. We can see from the training pictures that Steph Catley, who finished last season with an injury, is not in full training yet. Katie Reid has not played since October due to her ACL injury and certainly won’t be match fit for a while yet. Some knocks in the squad at the moment- you will notice Frida Maanum has not been in the training photos for a couple of weeks but nothing too serious from what I can gather. I am not aware of anything else but that is often the way with injuries, Arsenal are quite good at keeping them under wraps.
Top teams struggle to provide pathways to the starting eleven as those established players are very good. How can Arsenal address this with players like Agyemang, Jessie Gale, Vivienne Lia, or Maddy Earl? If these players are good enough to join the senior team and contribute, do we currently have a way to help progress them to that level? Can we develop the structures and staff needed to get them the correct loans and then, hardest part, to get them playing minutes for the senior team? How close are we? What needs to be improved? Robb
This is a really interesting debate in the WSL at the moment. Minutes assigned to players under 24 years old are dropping across the league which represents an issue for the England national team. However, Arsenal’s job is not to develop players, it is to win. There are some players you have listed there who will not have a future at Arsenal, as most academy players will not.
Ultimately, you have to trust that the truly elite players push other players out of the way and force coaches to play them. Lotte and Laia Codina were fit for the first four games of last season and Katie Reid started ahead of them. Most of that is due to her talent, some of it is also because she has big qualities that the team lacked overall (height and recovery pace).
Ultimately, with players who probably don’t have a future at Arsenal like Earl, Lia and probably Gale, the academy has done its job. It has produced professional standard players who will have professional careers and hopefully will have had a great grounding at Arsenal. But the manager’s job is to try to win the WSL and the Champions League, player development doesn’t always mean they become first team players and belongs to a different part of the club.
How important do you think Baum, Reuteler, Batlle(?) & Cerci being reasonably two-footed (not Santi or Lia levels obviously) will be tactically? My feeling is more teams go person-to-person this season. Mos
Really interesting point. I think being reasonably two-footed absolutely counted in Cerci’s favour when she was recruited. This has been a quality lacking a little in Arsenal’s attack over the years. Even Russo, whose fundamentals are generally flawless, is weak on her left side. I know Renee really wanted an inverted right-winger with a strong left-foot too which was one of the really standout qualities they saw in Lisa Baum, having that option and the angles it opens up, gives Arsenal’s attack something it just hasn’t had. I am told she really impressed in the BCD Palace friendly.
I have talked a lot about flexibility and greater unpredictability in attack positionally and in terms of rotation, but I think you are absolutely right that this has been a key pillar this summer and I too expect the WSL to look increasingly like the Premier League in terms of player-to-player marking. Renee observed last summer when we played friendlies against Spurs and West Ham that this approach was on the rise in the WSL. The ability to solve one v one solutions is, I would say, a big priority for Renee in terms of improving our attack.
On mythical centre back signing, would you personally consider signing a left-footer to be an absolute deal-breaker? Would signing a top right footed defender be a worthy compromise due to the lack of availability of lefties, even if it means potentially fielding an all right-footed back four? Max Radwan
It might be that Arsenal would have to compromise here, yes. More broadly it is interesting that women’s football really doesn’t develop much elite talent with those attributes. Is something missing in the coaching? Is the talent that has those attributes just falling through the cracks?
This is basically what happened when Arsenal tried to replace Rafaelle in the summer of 2023. They wanted another left-footed centre-half but couldn’t find a good one that was available. They first tried for Viggosdottir from Bayern, who is a right-footed LCB before going for Laia Codina. We do already have Lotte who can play on the left-side as a right-footer. Ultimately, I would tolerate another right-footer if they were very aerially imposing because I feel that's a non-negotiable for a new centre-half.
Where have we rated on our recruitment compared to the other teams in the league? What areas do you think we have not recruited for that we should have? I am not sure we have covered the left back fully or the left sided cb Steve Sutton
This is where Girls On The Ball’s excellent transfer tracker comes in handy! When I look at our traditional rivals, I think McCabe is a big uplift for Chelsea at left-back, Matsukobo is a great signing. I really like Melvine Malard but, the harsh truth is, it looked like Chelsea might get Bunny for that position and as much as I like Malard, she is not Bunny Shaw.
Chelsea have focused on recruiting younger players but overall, I don’t think they have drastically upgraded their software yet- albeit I think there are a lot of internal and incremental improvements they can make as they really kicked off a big rebuild last year. City have added strong WSL experience with Mead and Charles and I think their squad looked really strong already and didn’t need a lot doing to it.
Clearly London City Lionesses are generating the headlines and they will be far stronger, Spurs have done a lot of really strong business too. The league has four extra games next season and I think we will see a definite top half and bottom half develop. I also think the title winner is going to drop more points than ever given the quality players in the 'second tier’ of the WSL are adding.
As for Arsenal, yes, centre-back is the big one for me. I would not have grumbled about a really top winger but felt, like many clubs, that Salma’s salary was too high. I wouldn’t say no to another central midfielder either. Winger and midfielder are nice to haves currently, centre-back is a must. But I also wouldn’t rule out more twists, turns and turnover before the deadline. In fact, I would bet on it...