Happily, since we have gone over 3,000 subscribers for our Arsenal Women Newsletter, we have to make some changes to our subscription plan on Ghost. Obviously it’s a busy time for the site at the moment so while that admin gets sorted, we will host the newsletters on here temporarily. This is this week’s installment.
Arsenal Women didn’t quite have the season they wanted to with only the FIFA Champions Cup to show for their efforts. (I will not tolerate any FIFA Champions Cup erasure…until next year). However, Alessia Russo had the sort of season I am sure she would have wanted in terms of her own evolution and development.
When you watch one team all the time, there is an intangible feeling you get when you see a player ascend to that truly world class level. I have seen it in the men’s and women’s team many times over my three plus decades of watching both teams and I am seeing it with Alessia Russo now. The flow, the confidence to take the ball under pressure, the desire to be a reference point and the end product.
Russo produced 22 goals and eight assists across 34 games this season. Arsenal’s next highest provider is end product is Stina Blackstenius, another player who has gone to another level this season, with 11 goals and five assists. (And Stina has a better G+A ratio per minute than Russo, though the sample size is around 50% of Russo’s).
In short, in lieu of a Bunny Shaw, Ewa Pajor or prime Sam Kerr, Arsenal have two centre-forwards regularly providing goals and assists. Blackstenius has evolved beyond being a specific player for a specific situation and has rounded her game out, which is credit to her, as well as Slegers and Kelly Smith. Of all the contracts Arsenal needed to secure ahead of next season I felt Stina was in the ‘must renew’ bucket.
Russo though has ascended to the level of Mariona, Kim Little and Leah Williamson in terms of Arsenal’s reference players. Russo played 3,053 minutes for Arsenal this season, the highest in the team. This is all the more remarkable given that she played 2,525 last season and then went to the Euros and played 503 minutes there, scoring in the final as England went on to lift the trophy.
The emotional and physical effort of winning the Champions League and then the Euros and then putting together a season like this has been a feat of endurance, first and foremost. (And the same can be said of Mariona who did something very similar). Leah Williamson and Chloe Kelly, for example, have paid the physical price for their summer exploits in 2025-26.
With 19 WSL goal involvements, the 27-year-old has enjoyed her most productive season. That she is currently Arsenal’s best option as a number 9 and a number 10 is a credit to her all-round football play and intelligence (it’s also unsustainable from a squad management perspective). When Russo signed in 2023, I wrote this analysis piece about her style of play.
In that piece, I talked about her ability to take one fewer touch than most of her contemporaries when accepting the ball under pressure. ‘Russo’s first touch is already very well honed. She has a very neat way of simultaneously getting the ball out of her feet and keeping it away from the opponent.’ I produced a number of clips from United and England games to support this assertion.
She arrived at the club with an exceptional ability to roll defenders with her back to goal and even that super strength has gone to another level during this campaign. She has added some textures and flourishes to the way she turns a marker, which has prevented her from becoming predictable. Russo has also started to use this ability to take one touch where most would require two in front of goal.
Here is her most recent goal for England against Iceland and of course, perhaps one of her most consequential goals this season, at home to Chelsea in the Champions League
Her confidence at international level has also visibly grown. I think it took her a little time to ‘accept’ that she was the bona fide 9 for England after Ellen White’s retirement but over time, the discussion over the number 9 role for England has vanished. Russo is one of those totally uncontested starters for her country which is quite a feat given the depth of England’s talent pool.
At club level, Russo is also showing that intangible, star player status. A player who wants the ball when the game gets hot, who you would back to produce something in a tight game. I wrote last week about Russo being made captain for the final home game of the season against Everton and Slegers’ explanation for the decision.
‘It was a good moment for Alessia to wear the armband, because it’s all shared responsibility. It’s just formality, but also the knowledge, the way she’s grown and how she’s been stepping up for the team.’ With big players and leaders like Katie McCabe and Beth Mead departing, Russo is certainly seen as one of the leaders of the new iteration of Arsenal and has been inducted into the leadership group this season.
Witnessing her ascension this season has been one of the more satisfying elements of watching Arsenal this season. The keys of the attack have been passed over the years, from Miedema under Joe Montemurro, to Beth Mead under Jonas Eidevall and now, under Renee Slegers, Russo is the leader of the attack, who gives the team its attacking identity. Alessia is arriving into her prime years and her development into a world class talent is increasingly obvious and visible.