With transfer deadline day only a day away, Suth Speaks Sport takes a look at the transfers that have already taken place during the mid-season break as well as the ones that could still yet happen. Arsenal The lady Gunners will be looking to close the gap on Chelsea in order to clinch the title they lost 3 years ago. Arsenal currently occupy the remaining Champions League spot and sit 2 points behind their London counterparts. Regarding this transfer window Arsenal have been one of the most active clubs already signing 2 players, the first is goalkeeper Sian Rogers who looks to be more like one for the future given the immediate competition already facing her at the club. She arrives from Birmingham City. The other signing the club has made is Marta Corredera who arrives from Spain to take what is already a small Spanish contingent up to 4. Corredera hooks up with fellow Spaniards Vicky Losada, Natalia Pablos and manager Pedro Martinez Losa. Regarding anymore signings I think it will be unlikely although they have registered and interest in Reading’s Fran Kirby, but in my view if one more player was to arrive I think she would be of Spanish origin, possibly from the World Cup squad. Transfers In
Birmingham City No signings yet and there may not be any in what is an important transfer window for the West Midlands outfit. Birmingham currently sit precariously in 7th place, 1 point and 1 place above Bristol Academy who currently occupy the drop zone. So far there have been no incomings but they have already lost a couple of players including highly rated young goalkeeper Sian Rogers who has already appeared on the bench for them this season, she has joined Arsenal. While they have also lost England youth midfielder Abbey-Leigh Stringer to WSL 2 side Aston Villa. Despite the loss of personnel, Birmingham do have a tight knit squad and would be okay without any additions, although an extra body or so wouldn’t go amiss. Transfers Out
Bristol Academy The team currently propping up the league but have a benefit of not having any of the squad playing in Canada at the World Cup. Another added bonus of having all the squad together is that it has allowed new manager Willie Kirk to get his ideas across and plan for possible transfers, a couple which I understand could happen today or Thursday. Although it remains to be seen who, my guess would be either a player(s) from either Kirks’s native Scotland or possibly from one of the emerging nations from the World Cup given Bristol’s small budget. Chelsea No signings so far from the current league leaders but are eyeing a potential move for WSL 2 International Fran Kirby from Reading in what would be a record fee for the league. However they face competition from both Arsenal and Manchester City, the later of whom won’t be afraid to splash the cash as well. It is understood that Chelsea have offered Reading a figure ranging from £40,000-£60,000 for Kirby’s services, which has been accepted meaning Kirby is free to speak to Chelsea, although given her loyalty to Reading I see her staying at the Royals. Chelsea have also lost a player in Jackie Groenen who has opted to return to Germany, but I do feel they have the quality to cope without her. Transfers Out
Liverpool A fairly quite mid-season break for the current WSL 1 champions who currently find themselves 5th, 8 points off the pace and will be looking for much improvement in the second half of the season. The improvement in the league will have to be achieved without key midfielder, Nicole Rosler who has opted for a move back to Germany to sign for recently crowned champions Bayern Munich. However with Rosler departing it could open up a move for one of the stand out stars of the Canada World Cup in Colombian international Lady Andrade who could have suitors in a number of countries. If the Reds are to move for the Colombian I expect this one to go down to the wire. Another potential move Liverpool could make is for Cameroon’s World Cup star Gaëlle Enganamouit who currently plays her trade in Sweden, although this seems less likely than Andrade. Transfers Out
Manchester City The Citizens will be hoping to climb up the table after a stuttering start to the season and currently find themselves in 6th position in the table. Manchester City have made one purchase so far and it’s quite a low profile one in the form of 22-year-old attacking midfielder Daphne Corboz who arrives from American University Georgetown. Corboz will make a good replacement for Sarah Wiltshire who re-joined Yeovil Town a month ago after a brief spell in Manchester. So as the window draws to a close it’s been a case of one in one out, but more could be on the way with interest shown in England star Fran Kirby, however Chelsea appear to be the front runners for that one. Transfers In
Notts County No in’s or out’s for the Lady Pies so far as the squad is looking reasonably strong after a fantastic start to the campaign and currently sit 3rd, 3 points behind 1st place Chelsea. Notts in the remaining two days of the window may feel obliged to bring in extra cover like when they brought in Fiona O’Sullivan from Freiburg, otherwise it will be a fairly quite mid-season transfer window. The toughest test for Notts will be the run of 4 games in 2 weeks before they play in their first FA Cup final. So really it’s all down to fitness as to whether anyone arrives, although I think it would be unlikely. Sunderland
A club that has already made full use of the transfer window and shaping their squad nicely for the second part of the season. Sunderland were one of two top flight teams to not have a single player participating at the World Cup in Canada. So far the Black Cats have made 2 signings, the first was Irish striker Stephanie Roche who previously spent a spell in the United States. Roche rose to fame late last year after her cracking strike in the Irish league saw her receive global recognition including being shortlisted for the FIFA Puskas in 2014. The other signing the club made was Norwegian goalkeeper Hilde Gunn Olsen from Arna Biørnar. Transfers In
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This season sees the second year of the two tier WSL (WSL 1 & WSL 2) with relegation, having been introduced in 2014. However this season will see two teams promoted from WSL 2 taking the total to nine teams in WSL 1. It is part of a two year plan of having 2 leagues of 10. Last season saw Everton relegated from the top flight for the first time in 21 years, while Sunderland achieved promotion to the WSL 1 ahead of this year’s campaign. Meanwhile at the top end of WSL 1 saw the closest finish to the league ever with the title being decided on the final day with Chelsea, Birmingham and Liverpool all standing a chance with the latter sealing their second successive title in dramatic fashion. 2015 is expected to be even more dramatic with the standard getting better year on year as well as teams strengthening and becoming more professional too. Don’t rule out excitement in WSL 2 either with two teams going up it’s sure to be another enjoyable or nervy season depending which team you follow. WSL 1 Arsenal Manager: Pedro Martinez Losa Captain: Kelly Smith Stand-out star: Lianne Sanderson On the rise: Jordan Nobbs The 2014 campaign saw a disappointing start by Arsenal’s standards along with a managerial change half way through the season with Shelly Kerr leaving after guiding them to FA Cup glory to be replace by Spaniard Pedro Martinez Losa who guided the Gunners to 4th place. Arsenal will be hoping to make a more promising start to this season and have made a number of astute acquisitions in the off-season to help them including the returning Lianne Sanderson who will be sure to add plenty of fire power to the attack as the Gunners pursue a top 2 finish. Sanderson will be helped in attack by Natalia who arrives from league rivals Bristol and will be hoping to replicate her impressive form which has seen her stock rise over previous years. Both Natalia and Sanderson join a team full of exciting young talent including midfield maestro Jordan Nobbs and striker Danielle Carter who bagged 8 goals last year. It is not only the young talent Arsenal have with experienced trio Casey Stoney, Rachel Yankey and Kelly Smith all looking to play their part in what sets to be an exciting campaign for the Gunners. In my opinion Arsenal will bounce back from their 2014 campaign in which they experienced a disappointing 4th place finish (which fans of the men’s side are all too familiar with). When Martinez Losa took over the results did pick up and Arsenal became hard to beat again and I expect that to continue. The Gunners were the highest scorers in the league last term so goals are not the problem, however they will need to improve defensively if they are to mount a title challenge having conceded 21 goals in their 2014 league campaign. Predicted finish: 3rd Birmingham City Manager: David Parker Captain: Karen Carney Stand-out star: Karen Carney On the rise: Jade Moore The Blues can look back at their 2014 campaign with a lot of pride, having come so close to snatching the title on the final day after being tipped at the start of the season to get relegated. Birmingham who are managed by the highly rated David Parker have a relatively young squad and pride themselves on developing players on a limited budget as seen with young strike duo Kirsty Linnett and Melissa Lawley. Both of whom give defenders sleepless nights due to their work rate and pace. The team are led by the evergreen Karen Carney who’s showing no signs of slowing down and is arguably one of the greatest players to play for England. It’s probably a fair assessment to say that Birmingham are strongest in the midfield area with the likes of Jo Potter, Jade Moore and Remi Allen are adding their unique skill and flair to the team. For the new campaign Birmingham will be hoping to prove more people wrong and try to replicate their 2014 and push on for a Champions League place. This may be tough though as the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City and Notts County have all strengthened further and will all have similar aspirations as them. The key for Birmingham if they are to achieve this is being able to keep Karen Carney fit as well as scoring enough goals to go hand in hand with their hard to beat defence (having the third best defensive record last term in WSL 1, conceding 14). The question is can Birmingham beat the odds again? Predicted finish: 6th Bristol Academy Manager: Dave Edmondson Captain: Grace McCatty Stand-out star: Nicola Watts On the rise: Mary Earps Bristol, who the previous year qualified for the Champions League in which they embarked on a successful campaign beating Barcelona along the way to the quarter-finals where they’ll play Frankfurt, finished a disappointing 7th in 2014 and one place above relegation. The Vixens will be hoping to improve on last season’s showing but suffered a huge body blow during the off-season with the departure of strikers Natalia who joined WSL1 rivals Arsenal, while Welsh wonder Natasha Harding signed for Manchester City after her proposed move to American side Washington Spirit fell through on Visa grounds. This was compelled with the loss of Captain Corinne Yorston who made the surprise step down to WSL2 to join Yeovil while defender Gemma Rose joined Arsenal. However Bristol who be looking to upset the odds as they look to stay in WSL1 for another year and have made a number of signings themselves with the triple capture of Hayley Ladd, Nadia Lawrence and Sharla Passariello from Coventry and South Florida Bulls respectively. Looking at the way the other teams have strengthened I believe that it will be a straight slog between themselves and Sunderland as to who goes down come October. Final Prediction: 8th (Relegated) Chelsea Manager: Emma Hayes Captain: Katie Chapman Stand-out star: Eniola Aluko On the rise: Claire Rafferty Chelsea will be looking to put last season’s final day heart break behind them as they look to cement another challenge for the WSL1 title. When the Blues blew it on the last game of the season the players were left distraught on what could have been, but I’m sure Chelsea have become stronger and learnt a lot as a result of this. Couple this with a number of signings including Gemma Davison from Champions Liverpool, Chelsea have a squad to rival just about any team in the league. In addition to this Chelsea have England International striker Eniola Aluko who throughout her career has been lethal in front of goal and proved it once again last year. Chelsea will however be missing joint top scorer from the 2014 campaign as Yuki Ogimi has joined German side Wolfsburg. Last season Chelsea qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their history and will go into new season wanting to prove themselves in this competition as well as wanting to get their hands on some silverware closer to home. Expectations will by high having taken the decision for most players to go professional this year, but the question is can the players handle such high expectations? Predicted finish: 2nd Liverpool Manager: Matt Beard Captain: Gemma Bonner Stand-out star: Natasha Dowie On the rise: Martha Harris Liverpool’s 2014 campaign ended in some final day Drama which saw the Reds retain their WSL1 title which was quite remarkable having begun the day as outsiders in 3rd place. However Liverpool face an even tougher task if they are to retain the title for the 3rd consecutive year having lost a couple of key players since the end of the last campaign. Gemma Davison has moved on to pastures new after only one season with the Red’s as she joins last years runners-up Chelsea, while Lucy Bronze joins ambitious Manchester City. Despite these changes Liverpool will be hoping to carry the winning momentum into the new season and do have the help of new signings of their own. In the off-season Liverpool were able to complete the signings of Satara Murray from Tar Heels in Ameria, Ingrid Ryland and highly rated, Line Krogedal Smorsgard from Norwegian sides Arna-Bjornar and Klepp IL respectively. My view is that with the players they lost in the closed season along with the time it will take for the new players to bed in, so I cannot see Liverpool retaining their title on the grounds of due certain clubs around them becoming stronger and the reds losing players to rival teams. Final prediction: 5th Manchester City Manager: Nick Cushing Captain: Steph Houghton Stand-out star: Toni Duggan On the rise: Nikita Parris In their debut season in the WSL the Citizens made a slow start with everyone at the club insisting that the project will take time and they were right as signs showed that towards the end of the season the team was clicking into place and recorded a number of impressive wins, most notably defeating Chelsea on the final day to deny them the title. The team though did enjoy some Silverware by lifting the Continental Cup (League Cup) by defeating Arsenal 1-0 in the final. This Year City will be expected to improve on last year’s 5th place finish by mounting a top 2 challenge and I for one expect them to do that given the squad they have available to them. On paper few would argue that any other team has a better to than they do, but the question is how will the team gel with a number of new signings in the off-season including virtually a new defence with the likes of Jennifer Beattie, Demi Stokes and Lucy Bronze all adding strength in depth. Manchester City have also strengthened their forward line with the loan capture of Everton youngsters Nikita Parris, who will be looking to assist the likes of Toni Duggan in the goals department. I feel this season we may see the best of City and if they do show their true potential then I’m sure there will be no looking past them for the WSL1 title. Predicted finish: 1st (Champions) Notts County Manager: Rick Passmoor Captain: Laura Bassett Stand-out star: Jess Clarke On the rise: Amy Turner The Lady Pies will be looking to build on their 6th place finish in their 2014 inaugural campaign having moved from Lincoln for last season. Last year saw mixed fortunes having started brightly in the league, but a number of long term injuries coincided with a number of defeats and ultimately saw Notts slide down the table. They did however end the season strongly by picking up 10 points from their last 4 games which saw them finish a comfortable 14 points above the relegation zone. This season though looks bright for Notts with Ellen White back to full fitness and banging in goals during pre-season which is a major boost as the Lady Pies were very reliant on Jess Clarke to score the goals last season. County have made some very impressive signings in the closed season having had to replace a number of last season’s top performers including player of the season Rachel Corsie who’s moved to America to play for Seattle Reign. The players to arrive include Danielle Buet, Laura Bassett and Rachel Williams who all arrive from Chelsea, while Alex Greenwood and Fern Whelan joined from Everton. These players will add to what already is a very talented bunch of players and could realistically challenge for a top 2 position, but I’m sure the Lady Pies would be happy to try and achieve a top half finish. Predicted finish: 4th Sunderland Manager: Carlton Fairweather Captain: Stephanie Bannon Stand-out star: Beth Mead On the rise: Keira Ramshaw Newly promoted Sunderland will face a daunting task in trying to maintain WSL1 survival, but have one of the most highly rated English strikers in the Country with Beth Mead who has an impressive scoring record of 67 goals in 71 games in 3 seasons in her career with the Black Cats. She will be needing to maintain a similar scoring ratio if Sunderland are to keep their WSL 1 status beyond this year. Mead will be helped through fellow forwards Abby Joice and Sophie Williams who both chipped in with a number of their own as the Black Cats claimed WSL 2 success in 2014. In addition to this Sunderland have young exciting players coming through the ranks including midfield duo Rebekah Bass and Keira Ramshaw, as well as number of others looking to make a name for themselves in the top flight. 2015 looks set to be an interesting season for Sunderland Women with former male professional footballer, Carlton Fairweather taking over the managerial reigns from Mick Mulhern who departed the club last November after leading the Black Cats to promotion. So Mead along with her team mates will be hoping for similar form they showed last season as Sunderland look to be the first WSL2 side to successfully stave of relegation and I for one believe they can do it. Predicted finish: 7th Predicted WSL 1 final standings
WSL 2 WSL2 Aston Villa The ladies in claret and blue somewhat went under the radar last term having gone about their business quietly by finishing the season in a respectable 4th place after going on an impressive run in the latter half of the season. If they are to replicate a 4th place finish in 2015 or something similar the team will need to score more goals, as although they were the fifth highest scorers in the league both Doncaster and Reading scored double the amount of goals Villa scored. The Villains will be pleased that last season’s top scorer with 6, Katie Wilkinson has joined permanently from WSL 1 side Birmingham City. They will however be hoping Wilkinson can double her tally from last season having lost academy product Emma Follis to WSL 2 rivals Reading. With Villa having lost a number of key personnel I can’t see them challenging for the top 2 spots, but I can’t see them scrapping right at the bottom either. Villa will also be aiming to improve on their Continental Cup campaign, having only picked up a solitary win last term, but it will be difficult with three WSL 1 teams in their group as well. Doncaster Belles The Belles are one of the most prestigious teams in the history of the women’s game, having been dominate through the late eighties and the early nighties, however last season saw them start in WSL 2 after controversially being relegated in 2013. Doncaster lived up to their favourites tag in 2014 but Sunderland proved they had more by piping the Belles to the title, consequently condemning them to another season in the second tier. This season Doncaster will be wanting to take full advantage of the two promotion spots available this season, but to do that they will have to gel quickly with a number of new faces including a new manager coming in during the closed season. After just missing out on promotion Gordon Staniforth left the club with former Lincoln Ladies manager Glenn Harris taking over the reins and bringing in some new signings which he believes will give them added impetus for their promotion assault. A number of the signings include Sophie Barker who Harris knows well from his time managing Lincoln, while also adding midfielder Emily Roberts who arrives on loan from Notts County. The Belles look in good shape heading into another campaign with a number of goal threats including Courtney Sweetman-Kirk who grabbed 10 in 13 appearances since arriving halfway through the season. However I believe that Everton and Reading have slightly more to offer meaning Doncaster may miss out again. It may go down to the wire though! Durham Women One of the surprised packages from 2014 which saw Durham finish a surprising 6th despite most tipping them to be rock bottom with the squad lacking experience with the makeup of the Wildcats team consisting of mainly students from university and college. Durham are continuing to build year on year as proven with some of their signings the club made since the end of the previous campaign. In comes young goalkeeper Helen Alderson from WSL 2 champions Sunderland where she was second choice and is expected to take over the mantle from the departed Danielle Hill who joins league rivals Doncaster Belles. Also joining is experienced Northern Ireland international defender Julie Nelson, who arrives from Glasgow City. For the new campaign Durham will be looking to carry last season’s momentum into 2015. It will be interesting to see how the Wildcats get on after surpassing most people’s expectations last year, but they face a tough start away to Doncaster Belles. If they can get off to a solid start though, Durham may surprise a number of people again. Everton Everton’s relegation from WSL1 saw many changes during the off-season with a number of players opting to stay in the top flight with other clubs while highly rated Nikita Parris joined Manchester City Women on loan for the upcoming campaign. However Everton can look forward to the new season with renewed optimism with some new signings of their own including defender Danielle Lea who drops down a division joining from Manchester City. Lea joins a team full of exciting youngsters including highly rated young centre back Gabby George and Northern Irish forward Simone Magill. They will also be helped by the fact that two teams will be promoted in this campaign as opposed to the usual one. With this taken into consideration I believe that Andy Spence will be able to lift the girl’s confidence from last season after failing to win a game and bounce straight back with a slightly new look squad of youth and experience. London Bees To put it bluntly the Bees 2014 campaign was terrible which saw them prop up the WSL2 table, despite starting the season brightly. London Bees though will be looking to dust themselves down and put last season’s disappointments behind them as they look to use that experience to build a solid footing in the league this term. This is proven with the amount of new faces the Bees have brought in with over a dozen players arriving from a number of clubs as they look to avoided finishing bottom of WSL 2 for a second consecutive season. Like Oxford, a successful season for them would just be an improvement on the last. So if the Bees can get into double figures in their league campaign and achieve at least one win the Continental cup (League Cup), then I’m sure they’ll class that as progress. Millwall Lionesses Last season by their own admission was a disappointing one for the Lionesses after finishing 8th having been expected to at least challenge in mid-table. Millwall will be looking to improve on this and cause a few upsets as the season progresses to prove that they are no pushovers. This may prove difficult though due to WSL 2 being a highly competitive league and everyone wanting to outdo everyone else. However the Lionesses have had time to reflect on their 2014 and will be raring to go with their new manager Dan Milner, who was during the season break. The squad has experienced the least amount of player turnover in WSL 2 which may prove an advantage with only one leaving (Kylie Davies who joined Reading, while signing just three. Milnar will have his work cut out to get the Lionesses firing, but in my opinion they will improve on last season’s poor showing of 8th and you never know may find themselves challenging at the top half come October. Oxford United Last season will be one which Oxford will hope to improve on after finishing second bottom last season with 3 wins and 3 draws from their 18 matches. The players will want to use last season as a learning curve with it being a relatively young squad and aim to surpass their points total from 2014. The U’s would also want to improve on their showing in the Continental Cup (League Cup) having failed to register a single point in the league of six. Looking forward to this campaign and my view is that Oxford will struggle again and potentially could be propping up the WSL 2 table. However I’m sure a successful season for the U’s would be to just improve on last season’s showing of 9th. Anyhow Oxford can rest assured as there is no relegation yet from WSL 2, so whatever happens they will live to fight another day. Reading The lady Royals showed plenty of promise last season after challenging for promotion to WSL 1 for the majority of the campaign, just slipping away in the final months. It’s fair to say Reading have the hottest property in the league in the shape of 21-year-old forward Fran Kirby, who became the first WSL 2 player to be called up to the senior side last August and has since established herself in Mark Sampson’s team. By being able to keep hold of someone of the quality of Kirby I give Reading and excellent challenge to win promotion and gain the opportunity to be able to play in WSL 1 in 2016. This has been helped as there a two promotion places available this year as opposed to one and I feel Reading will be one of the two teams to achieve the feat. Watford The Golden girls started the 2014 season positively and at the earlier stages looked as though they could challenge towards the top, however their season began to peter out and eventually finished 7th, 10 points clear of bottom placed London Bees. The loss of influential Welsh international forward Sarah Wiltshire to WSL 2 rivals Yeovil midway through the 2014 season was one of the causes for their downturn in form. Nonetheless Watford have had time to regroup and this season could be a promising one with a number of new additions including former Arsenal goalkeeper Cherie Rowlands who joins from London Bees as well as striker Anneka Nuttall who also signed from the Bees. I see Watford improving on last season’s finish, but I don’t think they will have enough to challenge for promotion. Most likely to finish around mid-table. Yeovil Town The Glovers had a campaign which they can be pleased of in their debut FAWSL season, finishing mid-table and have set the bar high for 2015 with promotion in the clubs sights. Their ambitions have been underlined with the signing of experienced defender Corinne Yorston, who joined from Bristol Academy, dropping down a division in the process. Yorston adds to what already is a strong squad with the likes of Welsh international Helen Bleazard who’s played for the likes of Chelsea and Bristol Academy during her career. However Yeovil will have to deal with the loss of young forward Sarah Wiltshire who moved onto pastures new by signing with ambitious WSL 1 side Manchester City. My view is Yeovil will perform well and match expectations to an extent, but I feel a number of other teams will have slightly more than them on the pitch, enabling them to finish higher than the Glovers. Predicted WSL 2 final standings
Selected In’s & Out’s
Alex Greenwood – Everton to Notts County Alex Windell – Bristol Academy to Birmingham City Corinne Yorston – Bristol Academy to Yeovil Town Demi Stokes – South Florida Bulls to Manchester City Emily Roberts – Notts County to Doncaster Belles (loan) Fern Whelan – Everton to Notts County Gemma Davison – Liverpool to Chelsea Gemma Rose – Bristol Academy to Arsenal Hayley Ladd – Coventry City to Bristol Academy Jody Handley – Everton to Doncaster Belles Jennifer Beattie – Montpellier to Manchester City Laura Bassett – Chelsea to Notts County Lucy Bronze – Liverpool to Manchester City Marija Banusic – Kristianstad to Chelsea Millie Bright – Doncaster Belles to Chelsea Natalia – Bristol Academy to Arsenal Natasha Harding – Bristol Academy to Manchester City Niamh Fahey – Arsenal to Chelsea Nikita Parris – Everton to Manchester City (loan) Sarah Wiltshire – Yeovil Town to Manchester City Sharla Passariello – South Florida Bulls to Bristol Academy |
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