By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-07-31 13:46:46 | Updated at 2026-08-02 17:52:20
2 days ago
After a busy summer of comings and goings in the WSL, we look at one transfer that each of the 14 clubs have made so far that should get you excited about the season ahead.
The 2026-27 Women’s Super League season is almost upon us, with the first round of fixtures set to begin on 4 September.
It’s expected to be one of the most competitive editions in the league’s history, with the gap to the traditional ‘big four’ – Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United – expected to close considerably as sides such as London City Lionesses and Tottenham Hotspur look to make their mark.
Newly-promoted Crystal Palace, Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic will all be hoping to put up enough of a fight to survive a season in the English top-flight.
It won’t be easy; with an average team rating of 84.3, the WSL is deemed the second-toughest league in women’s football by the Opta Power Rankings behind only the United States’ NWSL (85.3).
The competition is tough, and all 14 teams have been busy strengthening their squads over the summer to put themselves in the best position for success.
We’ve highlighted one new addition to each WSL team that fans should keep an eye out for this season.
Arsenal: Georgia Stanway
We were made to wait for the official announcement, but as expected Georgia Stanway has joined Arsenal on a free transfer ahead of the 2026-27 season following a trophy laden four-year stint at Bayern Munich.
Stanway played the most passes (1,992), the most passes into the final third (449) and made the most ball carries (442) of any player across Europe’s big five leagues last season, while recording the joint-second most assists (nine) in the 2025-26 Bundesliga.
She also ranked 13th for the number of times she won possession (118), anchoring the midfield for a team that averaged almost 70% possession in the German top flight.
The English midfielder also led the Bundesliga for the number of open play sequences involved in (1,361), those ending in a shot (168) and those ending in a goal (24 – joint-most).
Aston Villa: Mia McAulay
Since making her first league start for Rangers in August 2023 as a 16-year-old, Mia McAulay has 30 goals and 16 assists in the Scottish WPL, the second most goal involvements of any teenager in the competition during that period, behind now former teammate Laura Berry (54).
Those impressive numbers led to a first senior Scotland cap in May 2025 and, this summer, a move to Aston Villa.
Natalia Arroyo’s side recorded the second-most fast breaks in the Women’s Super League last season, behind only champions Manchester City.
McAulay looks to fit that Villa mould after being one of the most adept players at carrying the ball in the 2025-26 SWPL; she was only player to record double figures for goals and assists combined from ball carries of 5+ metres (six goals, four assists).
The exciting youngster also produced the second-most shot-ending carries (24) and the second-most progressive carries (154) of any forward in the competition last term.
Birmingham: Millie Turner
Last season’s WSL2 champions Birmingham City have signed Manchester United duo Lisa Naalsund and Millie Turner.
Turner has played in every one of Manchester United’s WSL campaigns with only Ella Toone appearing more times in the competition for the Red Devils (133 vs 113).
A composed figure at the heart of defence, Turner completed 93.9% of her attempted passes last term (341/363). Only Alanna Kennedy (94.0% in 2024-25) ever boasted a better success rate in a single WSL campaign (minimum 100 passes).
Despite having more limited game time in 2025-26, Turner ranked in the top 10 for aerial duel success rate (65.2%) and also averaged 2.3 headed clearances per 90 minutes, the best rate of any Manchester United player.
Since her first season in the top-flight with the Red Devils in 2019-20, Turner ranks second for headed clearances and aerial duels. She also sits in the top five for passes and the top 10 for minutes played.
Some real valuable experience has been added to the Blues’ ranks.
Brighton: Lia Wälti
Former Arsenal midfielder and UEFA Women’s Champions League winner Lia Wälti has returned to the Women’s Super League after just a one-year hiatus in Italy with Juventus.
The Swiss international has joined Brighton & Hove Albion after ending the 2025-26 Serie A campaign as the Juve player that made the most tackles (33), won possession the most times (85) and recorded the joint-most assists (3).
In fact, Wälti was the only player in Serie A last season to make 30+ tackles, complete 500+ passes, create 20+ chances and register more than one assist.
Charlton: Anna Koivunen
Charlton Athletic have brought in Anna Koivunen to provide extra competition to number one goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse.
Between the start of the 2025 season to the Addicks’ announcement of the shot-stopper joining this July, only four goalkeepers kept more clean sheets in the Damallsvenskan than Koivunen’s seven for Djurgården.
The Fin was first seen on English screens at UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, keeping a clean sheet against Iceland in the tournament’s opening match.
In that competition, Koivunen posted the fourth best save rate (72.7%), ahead of England’s Hannah Hampton.
Chelsea: Manaka Matsukubo
Chelsea signed Alyssa Thompson from Angel City ahead of last season, Naomi Girma from San Diego Wave in January 2025 and have swiped their card into the NWSL for a third successive season with the acquisition of Manaka Matsukubo from North Carolina Courage.
The Japanese international won the Midfielder of the Year award in the 2025 NWSL after netting the third most goals (11) and recording the second most goal involvements (15) of any player during the regular season.
She continued that fine form into 2026 off the back of winning the Asian Cup with Japan and as of the start of July when she signed for the Blues, trailed only Barbra Banda (12) for goal involvements in the NWSL with nine, averaging a goal or assist every 85 minutes (five goals, four assists).
An incredibly versatile player, Matsukubo has actually played a larger proportion of her total minutes across the last two NWSL campaigns as a striker (37%), but has been deployed all the way across the forward line and in midfield.
Crystal Palace: Lexi Lloyd-Smith
Despite spending much of her youth career with Arsenal and then Chelsea, Lexi Lloyd-Smith has never made her WSL debut – that will change this season after the forward has signed for Crystal Palace from Bristol City.
Lloyd-Smith won the Golden Boot in the WSL2 last season with 11 goals, one of which was scored against the Eagles back in February. That backed up a 10-goal return in 2024-25, making the 23-year-old the only player to notch double figures in in both of the last two second tier campaigns.
The England youth international isn’t shy of getting stuck in either, ranking 10th last season among forwards for the number of times she won possession in the final third (15), fourth among all Bristol City players for the number of times she won possession overall (69) and fifth for high turnovers made for the Robins (13).
Lloyd-Smith also had the highest expected assists total among those who went without an assist in the WSL2 last term (3.4 xA), so she can count herself unlucky that her overall goal involvement tally last season wasn’t even higher.
Everton: Holly McNamara
Everton’s joint-top scorer from last season Kelly Gago has left to join West Ham United and the Toffees moved quickly to bring in Holly McNamara from Melbourne City.
The 23-year-old scored twice in the 2026 A-League Grand Final to take her season tally to 14, the most of any player in the competition last term – it was the second season in succession that she won the Golden Boot award.
McNamara was extremely clinical, boasting the best xG overperformance (+5.3) and the third best conversion rate (24.6%) in the division.
She departs the A-League with a record of 40 goals in 58 appearances and, should she be able to avoid suffering a fourth-career ACL injury, can be a big player in the 2026-27 WSL top scorer race.
Liverpool: Mao Itamura
Feyenoord’s Mao Itamura was named the Eredivisie player of the season in 2025-26 at the age of just 19, following a campaign with eight goals and six assists. She has also moved to Merseyside, but to the ‘red side’ with Liverpool.
The Japanese was one of four players in the division to take 30+ shots and create 30+ chances from open play last term and, among those to play the largest proportion of their total minutes as a forward, ranked fourth for the most open play sequences ending in a shot (85).
Looking at Europe’s big five leagues and the Eredivisie last season, the only teenagers to record more goal involvements than Itamura (14) were Barcelona’s Vicky López (19) and Heerenveen’s Aymee Altena (15).
Itamura also recorded the outright most goal involvements via a carry of 5+ metres among that same cohort (six – three goals, three assists).
London City: Alexia Putellas
The standout signing of the summer is London City Lionesses’ acquisition of two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas.
Putellas leaves Barcelona after winning four trophies last season, including the UEFA Women’s Champions League, in which she was awarded the Player of the Season award.
With eight goals and six assists from midfield, Putellas led Europe’s premier competition last season for the most goal involvements (14), as well as creating the joint-most chances (36 – all from open play), the most big chances (10) and recording the most shots (38).
Putellas played over 500 games and scored more than 200 goals for Barça but looking more recently – across the last three seasons – the 32-year-old ranks third for chances created (152), fifth for total shots (182), joint-fifth for goals (33) and second for assists (23) in the Spanish top-flight.
A serious coup for a team set to play in just their second ever Women’s Super League campaign.
Man City: Beth Mead
If Putellas is the most notable transfer of the window, then Beth Mead moving to Manchester City is a close second.
The all-time WSL leading assist provider (54) leaves Arsenal after almost a decade, having scored 54 goals and recording 50 assists in 167 league appearances. Since her Gunners debut in May 2017, the Lioness has the most assists (50), the most chances created (352) and fourth most open play crosses (347) in the WSL.
Among those to play 1,000+ minutes in the division last season, Mead ranked fifth for passes played into the penalty area per 90 minutes (8.2 – including crosses) which will likely prove to be a huge asset for Manchester City.
Last season the Citizens set the record for the most corner goals scored in a WSL campaign (15) and came close to equalling Chelsea’s record (17 in 2020-21) for the most headed goals netted in a season (Man City – 16).
Joining the dangerous duo of Vivianne Miedema and Khadija Shaw, it means Man City now have three of the six players to rack up a century of goal involvements in the WSL among their ranks.
In fact, during their time together in north London, Mead and Miedema combined for more goals than any other teammates have in WSL history (23).
Man Utd: Andrea Medina
Left-back Andrea Medina played twice for Atlético Madrid against Manchester United in last season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League and the Red Devils evidently liked what they saw, particularly in the first leg of their play-off tie.
In that first meeting, Medina made the most clearances (four) and the joint-most tackles (two) of any Atleti player, while also completing the joint-most dribbles (three) and winning the joint-most duels (eight) of any player in the match overall.
The 22-year-old also led the Atlético ranks in Liga F last term for duels won (124), clearances (106), interceptions (44) and total carries (357). In fact, only three defenders across Europe’s big five leagues made more carries than her last season.
Medina made her Spanish top-flight debut for Real Betis in January 2020 at the age of 15 and has already racked up 160 appearances in the competition. Since her first full campaign in 2020-21 she has made comfortably the most appearances of any player aged 22 or under across Europe’s big five leagues (159).
Tottenham: Kirsty Hanson
Kirsty Hanson has scored more goals against Tottenham Hotspur in her WSL career than any other opponent, but her tally of six won’t be improved on this season as she has moved south to join Spurs from Aston Villa.
The Scot enjoyed a best ever top-flight campaign in 2025-26, netting 12 goals in 22 appearances – in comparison, she netted 11 goals in 72 outings across the four prior seasons.
Hanson netted in four of the Villans’ five league victories last term and her 12 non-penalty goals were only bettered by Man City’s Khadija Shaw (19).
The striker’s goal return came from an xG of just under seven, meaning she overperformed her expected goals tally by over five goals (6.8 vs 12), the best overperformance of any player.
Hanson also ranked in the top five in the 2025-26 WSL for touches in the opposition box (117), shots (56), shots on target (28) and shot conversion rate (21.4% – min 20 shots).
A season of peak performance from the Goal of the Season winner, awarded for her strike in the win over West Ham on 5 October 2025.
West Ham: Kelly Gago
Spurs have also signed Shekiera Martinez from West Ham United and, as previously mentioned, the Hammers have turned to Everton’s Kelly Gago as a replacement, who has made a strong impression over the last 18 months in the WSL.
Since her debut in January 2025, no player has posted a better shot conversion rate in the WSL than the Frenchwoman (26.7%) among those to take 30+ shots, having netted eight times from 30 shots – and just 13 shots on target.
Six of her eight WSL goals have been either equalisers (two) or put Everton in the lead (four), and among those to score as often as her in that same period only Olivia Smith (80%) has seen a larger proportion of their strikes be such goals.
A striker for the important occasion.
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