Mary Earps set for London City Lionesses move in huge statement transfer | OneFootball

Mary Earps (33) is close to joining London City Lionesses, with Sky Sports reporting that the former England goalkeeper is nearing a return to the WSL from Paris Saint-Germain. Earps is available as a free agent at the end of her PSG contract after two years in France, with the deal understood to be moving towards completion. In WSL transfer news terms, this is one of the sharper pieces of business of the summer.

It is also a deal that fits the broader direction of London City’s project. Signing a player of Earps’ profile is not simply about name value; it is about telling the rest of the league that this club expects to accelerate quickly.

What Mary Earps brings to London City Lionesses’ goalkeeping unit

Earps arrives with the kind of CV few clubs outside the traditional WSL power base can realistically expect to land. She started every game in England’s Euro 2022-winning campaign, featured throughout the run to the 2023 World Cup final and collected the Golden Glove at that tournament, while her club career has also taken in major honours at Wolfsburg before her two-season spell at PSG, as noted in reporting around her previous move by BBC Sport.

In practical terms, London City would be adding an elite organiser as much as a shot-stopper. Earps has long been one of the game’s most authoritative penalty-area goalkeepers, strong in one-v-one moments and increasingly comfortable starting phases from deep when her side wants cleaner build-up. That matters beyond the sentiment of bringing back a high-profile England figure, because it gives London City a genuine reference point behind the back line as they try to move from survival-minded planning into a team that expects to control matches.

There is also the wider visibility piece. A club pushing for the next level needs players who can raise standards internally and credibility externally, and Earps does both. With England’s goalkeeping picture having shifted since her international retirement, as covered by She Kicks in our look at Hannah Hampton and England against Iceland, this move would feel like a clear statement that Earps still wants to shape the top end of the domestic game.

PSG losing Earps says plenty about the current market

If Earps does leave PSG on a free, it underlines how quickly even major clubs can find themselves exposed when squad cycles turn and contracts run down. PSG signed her in 2024 after Manchester United lost one of their biggest names for nothing, and two years later they now appear set to lose another established starter without a fee coming back.

That decision says plenty about the current market for elite women’s players: ambition is no longer concentrated as neatly as it once was, and clubs with serious backing can move aggressively if they spot contract openings. London City are not operating like a side content to make up numbers, especially with Mapi Leon also expected and Alexia Putellas still being discussed. As covered by She Kicks in our earlier reporting on Niamh Charles’ likely move to Manchester City and in our look at Sam Kerr’s Chelsea uncertainty, the top-end women’s market is becoming more fluid, more ambitious and much less predictable.

There is a London City-specific point here too. Telegraph reporting has framed the Earps-Leon chase as one of the boldest transfer pushes attempted by a WSL club outside the established elite, via The Telegraph, and that feels accurate. This is not opportunism; it looks like a club deliberately trying to change its place in the pecking order.

What comes next

The next thing to watch is the formal completion of Earps’ free-agent move and whether London City can line up the announcement with progress on Leon as well. If both deals are wrapped up in the coming weeks, the focus will shift quickly to whether the club can still tempt Putellas despite NWSL interest and how the rest of the squad is built around those additions.

Attention will move quickly now, because this story stops being about one major signing the moment London City show they can turn a headline move into a broader competitive reset.