United’s Grace Clinton and City’s Jess Park complete cross-Manchester switches | OneFootball

Grace Clinton signs for Manchester City Women on deadline day (Photo by Declan Lloyd/Manchester City FC)

Manchester City’s Jess Park has completed her move to Manchester United – and Manchester United’s Grace Clinton has completed her move to Manchester City.

The two Lionesses were both in the squad for England’s 2025 Women’s Euros win.

And reportedly both had one year remaining on their contracts with their previous clubs – meaning the surprising cross-city switches make sense for all involved.

Grace Clinton signs for Manchester City

Clinton has agreed a four-year deal with her new club.

“City, for me, has always played an amazing style of football,” she said in a statement. “Keeping the ball, it looks lovely, and there are amazing players [here].

“Hempo [Lauren Hemp], Bunny [Shaw], [Vivianne] Miedema, [Yui] Hasegawa are just a few of them and I want to get better and grow and learn things in my career and I think there are amazing people here to learn things from.

“To play this style of football will be really enjoyable.”

City’s director of football Therese Sjogran added: “We’re really pleased to have been able to bring Grace to Manchester City – she’s a player we have admired for a while now.

“She is still a young player but already has a lot of experience under her belt, and we believe she will fit in seamlessly with our style of play and add to the talented squad we already have.

“We’re very much looking forward to working with Grace over the coming seasons and seeing her make her mark in a Manchester City shirt.”

Clinton had earlier posted on Instagram: “Me and the club have taken the decision to part ways over the past few days…This has been a very difficult decision for me because of the love I have for my team-mates and for you, the fans. However, I feel the future of the club and I aren’t on the same page.”

Clinton began her professional career at Everton before a transfer to United in 2022. She has spent time on loan at Bristol City and Tottenham Hotspur.

The possibility of her leaving the club was raised with United’s head coach Marc Skinner as the team prepared for their UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifiers last month, but he rebuffed it, saying: “I’m sure there are people interested in Grace, because she’s a fantastic footballer, but the reality is, the club have not told me anything of that. As I am now, I am preparing for Champions League tomorrow and Grace is is progressing nicely to being part of our squad going forwards.”

However, Clinton did not feature in the matchday squads, with Skinner explaining that she was not fully fit following her England exploits in the summer.

Jess Park agrees City switch

Park’s contract with United will run until June 2029.

“I am really happy to be here and can’t wait to get started,” the 23-year-old said in a statement. “I wanted to break out of the boundaries and push myself to take on a new challenge. I’m the sort of person who wants to keep improving and pushing limits, and I think this is the perfect place for me to do that.

“I’m a player who wants the ball, and when I get it I like to look up and try and make things happen for my teammates, so I think I can fit in really well here. I know the ambitions are very high and I want to help the team push towards them.”

“We are delighted to have attracted Jess to Manchester United,” said Matt Johnson, director of women’s football. “She brings excellent technical quality, creative ability, and a winning mentality; and, importantly, she showed a strong desire to join the club and be part of the project we are building here.”

City begin their Women’s Super League campaign against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Friday, 5th September, while United host Leicester City at Leigh on Sunday, 7th September.