The January transfer window should be busy for Arsenal | OneFootball

The transfer window for women professional players will be open from 1 January to 31 January and I would expect to be busy especially on the departure side.

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Regarding incomings, you would expect maybe a central midfielder and a winger to join, but only if players leave the club in those positions.

Renee Slegers has been very consistent in selecting her squads and starting XI so far. I don’t there is any doubt who her core players and subs are. There are also many players who don’t make the bench at all in the WSL 20-player squad.

For example, against Spurs, the following four players who have professional contracts did not make the squad: Kathrine Kühl, Katie Reid, Freya Godfrey and Naomi Williams. If you add Academy players Vivienne Lia and Laila Harbert, who also train regularly with the first team, that is six players not making the matchday squad on regular basis, if there are no injuries.

Then if you add Amanda Ilestedt and Vicky Pelova, who could both return to training at some point after January, there is no need to keep so many players around – especially the youngsters.

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Naomi Williams being the third goalkeeper is not likely to move, but you would certainly hope the club will send Katie Reid, Freya Godfrey, Laila Harbert, and Vivienne Lia on loan so that they can get first-team football and carry on developing their game with playing time. The biggest problem being finding a club that will give them minutes.

Then we have Kathrine Kühl who does not get a sniff of a game and who mentioned on international duty that it was a problem for her. I am actually baffled that the club decided to recruit her and not give her any playing time. She was sent on loan and got game time and now is back at the club.

The most puzzling thing is when the club was struggling on the pitch, the coaching staff never put her out there. She has a different midfield profile than Kim Little, Lia Wälti and Kyra Cooney-Cross. She can break lines on the ball or with her passing.

It was bizzare not to see her given opportunities when Arsenal were struggling against low block, and she can also play in transition.

Considering Arsenal are looking to sign Keira Walsh either in January or July, you would expect the club to sell Kühl as they clearly do not trust her. You have to ask why the recruitment team signed her, if the coaching staff is not interested in playing her.

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We have a young talent in Laila Harbert who should also be able to compete for a central midfield place in one or two seasons, as well as Vicky Pelova who should return from her ACL injury. It all points to a departure from the club, for a player with a high potential who never got a chance to prove her worth.

This is the same problem as Gio, who left in the summer. Although the winger was not great technically and her decision making was a bit suspect, again recruitment got it wrong probably too.

Arsenal were rumored to be looking for a winger last summer and you would think they will try again in January or next summer.

With Foord (30), Mead (29), Hurtig (29), Caldentey (28) and McCabe (29), you would expect the club to sign a player aged 22 to 26 to compete next season, unless they decide to put Kafaji (21) in that position. Godfrey (19) does not seem to be ready yet to compete against those players and might be a full season away from being ready.

So overall, I can see between zero and two players being signed in the January window and one to five players departing as transfers and on loan. It will certainly be a busy January window for the Arsenal Women team.