Liverpool legend Gemma Bonner to leave at end of season | OneFootball

Gemma Bonner will leave Liverpool FC Women at the end of the 2025/26 season. The club confirmed the news on its officially reported announcement, with Bonner and Gemma Evans set to say goodbye at Anfield against Arsenal in Saturday’s WSL finale.

For LFCW, this is not ordinary Transfer News. Bonner (34) departs as the club’s leading appearance-maker in the WSL era with 186 games across two spells, having captained Liverpool to back-to-back WSL titles in 2013 and 2014 and later helping steady the side after their return to the top flight under Matt Beard.

She also leaves behind a very practical gap. Bonner’s second spell brought five goals, a record-breaking milestone when she passed Ashley Hodson’s 134 appearances in November 2023, and the kind of defensive authority that helped Liverpool FC Women finish seventh in 2022/23 and fourth in 2023/24. That matters beyond the sentiment of a long goodbye, because replacing her leadership, communication and experience is a different task from simply signing another centre-back.

‘From a little girl with a dream to a Liverpool legend’

Bonner’s own words, shared through the club, capture the scale of the departure: “186 appearances to date across two spells. Captain for our back-to-back WSL titles in 2013 and 2014. From a little girl with a dream to a Liverpool legend.” It is a line that lands because her status at the club has long since gone beyond a standard second-spell return.

Her exit also shifts the summer picture for Beard, whose wider standing at the club and in the women’s game was reflected when he was discussed in our earlier piece on Matt Beard’s WSL Hall of Fame recognition. Bonner only signed a new deal last August, so this confirmation closes off what had looked like a longer-term role in the squad’s transition.

Liverpool’s summer now needs a defensive reset

Evans’ departure adds to that need, with the Wales international leaving after 38 appearances in two seasons. Liverpool are losing depth as well as stature, and Bonner’s mentoring presence around Kirkby has been part of the club’s rebuild since promotion back to the WSL, as reflected in her Liverpool profile.

As seen in other recent high-profile exits covered by She Kicks, including Millie Bright’s Chelsea departure and Katie McCabe’s Arsenal exit, clubs can quickly find that replacing a defensive leader is as much about structure as sentiment. Attention at Liverpool will move quickly now to centre-back recruitment, because Beard’s next decision is not just who starts there, but who organises everything around them.