Newcastle in advanced talks to sign Jordan Nobbs to boost WSL 2 promotion push | OneFootball

Newcastle have held advanced talks with the aim of signing the England midfielder Jordan Nobbs. The 32-year-old is wanted by the Women’s Super League Two club on a free transfer, as they seek to strengthen their squad for a promotion push next season.

Nobbs, who has 71 caps for the Lionesses and last appeared for the national side in February 2023, has been a free agent since leaving Aston Villa at the end of her contract earlier this summer.

A three-time WSL title-winner with Arsenal in 2011, 2012 and 2019, Nobbs made her senior England debut in 2013 and was part of the Lionesses’ World Cup squad in 2015, although she is not part of Sarina Wiegman’s squad in Switzerland this summer. In 2017, she was named as the Players’ Player of the Year in the WSL.

Nobbs is the only player to have played and scored in every WSL campaign, since the division began as a breakaway league in 2011, and is undoubtedly one of the English game’s greatest players. Last October, she became the division’s all-time leading appearance-maker, and she is believed to have attracted interest from European and American clubs this summer as well as Newcastle, who are the leading contenders to sign her.

She played 270 times for Arsenal, scoring 81 goals, before moving to Aston Villa in January 2023. She helped the north London club win four Women’ FA Cups and five League Cups, during a 12-year spell after arriving from Sunderland. Nobbs spent her youth career there, having grown up in County Durham.

Newcastle finished fifth in the second tier last season, in their first campaign in what was known as the Women’s Championship following promotion in the previous year. The league has since been renamed as WSL 2.

Newcastle announced their first summer signing on Wednesday, with the arrival of the former Southampton defender, Jemma Purfield. The former Leicester and Liverpool player had spent two seasons in Hampshire.

Header image: [Photograph: Neville Williams/Aston Villa/Getty Images]