Arsenal Women’s summer 2026 signings in profile
Arsenal Women have had a busy transfer window, which was always projected. The Gunners have reached a stage of renewal and regeneration having held the squad with the highest average age in the WSL for the last two seasons. Manu Zinsberger, Laia Codina, Beth Mead, Katie McCabe, Rosa Kafaji, Victoria Pelova and Jenna Nighswonger all left the club this summer, which left plenty of work for Renee Slegers and Clare Wheatley to do.
Here is a guide to Arsenal Women’s summer signings and why each player was signed.
4.Georgia STANWAY
Stanway is a 27-year-old central midfielder. She became a fixture in the Manchester City team at the age of 17 and won the WSL at the age of 20. She has been a starter alongside Keira Walsh in the England team since shortly after the appointment of Sarina Wiegman. She was a key player in the Lionesses teams that won the Euros in 2022 and 2025 and that got to the World Cup Final in 2023, starting every game for the Lionesses in each of those tournaments. She has 93 England caps.
After four years at Bayern, Stanway was ready to return to the WSL. Arsenal tried to buy her last summer but Bayern preferred not to sell so the Gunners waited for a year for her to be available on a free. The Gunners require contingency in midfield. Captain Kim Little is 36 and her central midfield partner Mariona is 30. Victoria Pelova left the club this summer.
Arsenal required greater depth in midfield anyway, they have been over reliant on the Mariona Little double pivot since its inception in March 2025. Every summer we have the conversation about when Kim Little’s minutes might be managed down but every May we are left to reflect on the captain being one of Arsenal’s best and most consistent performers.
But it won’t last forever. Stanway is not a Kim replacement, there is simply no such thing. But the midfield does need to be built for a Kim-less future. Stanway is a very different type of player but she is very well rounded, capable of playing in deeper positions as a metronome but equally capable of breaking forward and arriving at the edge of the area. She is a very Slegers midfielder in that she escapes rigid categorisation.
5.Elisa DE ALMEIDA
Continuing the theme of buying early prime players, Arsenal bought 28-year-old French international centre-half Elisa de Almeida on transfer deadline day. De Almeida can also play at right-back. Essentially, Arsenal have wanted to add a centre-half to the squad since before the transfer window opened and my understanding is that a number of options were looked at, most of whom were not available.
With Katie Reid still not in full training after her ACL injury last year, Arsenal did not want to go into the season short on numbers, so opted for an experienced international in De Almeida to bolster the squad. It feels like a pretty short-term cover signing, in the realms of Amanda Ilestedt or Simone Boye to cover a gap. De Almeida is a solid defender, pretty good in the air even if she is only 5 foot 7 and plenty experienced.
14.Geraldine REUTELER
Reuteler is another 27-year-old central midfield player who Arsenal also tried to buy last summer. Like Bayern, Frankfurt preferred to keep the player for another season than sell so, again, Arsenal waited until she was available on a free transfer. The age of Arsenal’s signings is no coincidence. They needed to bring the average age of the squad down without going too young.
Reuteler spent eight years at Frankfurt and has 91 Swiss caps. As explained with Stanway, Arsenal needed to bolster their midfield options. Reuteler is one of the more intriguing signings. Slegers loves versatility in her players and Reuteler is, you know what’s coming, a Swiss army knife. Capable of playing as a 6, 8, 10, 9 or on the right wing.
Arsenal’s goal scoring numbers from midfield are shouldered almost entirely by Frida Maanum, so adding goals from midfield was also a priority this summer. There is also a slightly strange situation where Alessia Russo has accidentally become Arsenal’s preferred option as a 9 and as a 10 and she will almost always play both positions in the same game.
The upshot is that Arsenal are overly reliant on Russo in much the same way they are overly reliant on Mariona and Little. Reuteler ought to ease that burden and the sheer number of positions she can play makes her useful in a large variety of situations. Reuteler is also a very effective player in transition, capitalising very quickly on opposition turnovers. Her actions are very swift in these situations and that has not always been a strength of this Arsenal team.
https://x.com/KafajiComps/status/2042277544347476391?s=20
16.MISA Rodriguez
Perhaps the most surprising of Arsenal’s summer recruits. The 27-year-old Spanish goalkeeper left Real Madrid during the summer as their record appearance holder with 215 games in Madrid’s colours. Part of her decision not to renew her contract revolved around Madrid’s purchase of German goalkeeper Merle Frohms last summer, with Frohms overtaking Misa in the pecking order. In a World Cup year, Misa did not want to be on the bench.
However, if anything the competition at Arsenal is stiffer with Daphne van Domselaar and Anneke Borbe on board. But van Domselaar has struggled with injury over much of the last three years and required surgery again this summer. Borbe also played when not fully fit at times last season. With Naomi Williams and loan goalkeeper Bara Votikova moving on, Arsenal did need to buttress their goalkeeping group.
It is a surprise they have done it with a high-profile international player seeking minutes ahead of next summer’s World Cup. It can only mean that fitness concerns persist over one or both of Arsenal’s existing international goalkeepers. Even given van Domselaar and Borbe’s various physical struggles last season, Williams and Votikova still didn’t play a minute between them. Perhaps if Misa had been in the squad last season, she might have been. But on the surface, this is a surprise move for player and club.
19.Lisa BAUM
While the bulk of Arsenal’s business has focused on early prime players, 19-year-old Baum sits in the ‘up and coming’ stream of recruitment, probably akin to right-back Smilla Holmberg who joined the club in January. Baum was wanted by a lot of clubs this summer, including Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
Born in Tanzania but largely raised in Germany, Baum spent her academy career at Hamburger SV before being snapped up by RB Leipzig last summer. She managed six goals and two assists last season, which were strong numbers for a top flight debutant at a team that finished 10th in the table (out of 14 teams). Baum addresses the age profile of the wide options, with Foord 31, Kelly 27 and Smith 21.
But more than that, she has a profile Arsenal Women have essentially never had, an inverted right-winger. Arsenal haven’t really had a left-footed winger since the Chiomu Ubogagu (Katie McCabe hasn’t played on the wing in any meaningful way since around 2021). Baum is fast, very strong in one v one situations and very capable of cutting in on her left foot from the right side. She adds variety to the Arsenal attack.
22.Ona BATLLE
Batlle has long been considered one of the best full-backs in women’s football. She came through Barcelona’s academy, before spending three very strong seasons at Manchester United. She returned to Barcelona in 2023 and won three league titles, three Copa de la Reinas and two Champions Leagues (she was a runner-up in the latter competition in 2024-25…)
Batlle can play at right or left-back, with Emily Fox and Smilla Holmberg already in place for the right-back position and Katie McCabe among the high-profile departures, it seems likely she will operate mainly at left-back for the time being. Batlle struck up an especially fruitful partnership with Alessia Russo at Manchester United (some of which I covered in this profile piece on Alessia when she signed).
Put simply, Arsenal lost a world class full-back with Katie McCabe leaving for Chelsea this summer. When you lose a world class player, you pretty much have to buy a world class player to replace them and that is what Arsenal have done. No messing. That Batlle was prepared to leave Barcelona for her prime years, as a Catalonian, says a lot about how Arsenal are regarded and the shifting economic apparatus of women’s football towards the WSL.
29.Selina CERCI
A 26-year-old forward, Cerci made no secret of her Arsenal support in recent years, often posting pictures of herself in an Arsenal shirt with 10 BERGKAMP printed on the back. Cerci has solid Bundesliga experience with Werder Bremen, Turbine Potsdam, FC Koln and Hoffenheim. At Hoffenheim, Cerci scored 32 goals in 43 Bundesliga appearances- which is particularly impressive given Hoffenheim finished 4th and 6th in her two seasons there.
Cerci mainly operates as a centre-forward but for Germany she plays as a wide forward. Again, that creates curiosity about how and where she will mainly be used at Arsenal. With Russo and Blackstenius already in the squad and Agyemang waiting in the wings, there isn’t a huge need for a striker unless Russo plays more often as a 10. The most likely answer is that we will see her all across the front three at varying points, it is just a question of weights and measures for each position.
Broadly speaking, Cerci is a Beth Mead replacement (even if the players are a little different). Mead is a career long provider of end-product and that is a quality that Arsenal simply had to replace. Arsenal scored nine fewer league goals than champions Manchester City last season and what really cost them the title, was the fact that they drew six games (they only lost once in the league). They need more game breakers and Cerci provides that. How and where she provides it from will be fascinating.
40.Isa DAMM
18-year-old Danish goalkeeper from Brondby, the recruitment of Damm is somewhat separate from the first-team picture. Damm has played across youth levels for Denmark and has already made her senior debut for Brondby. She is one of the most highly rated young goalkeepers in Europe.
With Naomi Williams departing, there was a spot for ‘up and coming young ‘keeper.’ But Willams never played a senior game for Arsenal and her predecessor of sorts, Fran Stenson, only played once across five years at the club, most of which was spent out on loan. This acquisition is a ‘bet’ on future talent. Damm first trained with Arsenal in December 2024 and was on trial at the club at the beginning of last season.
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