After a lot of outgoings, Rehanne Skinner is starting to bring in the players she wants. We managed to let go six players, which is one better than last year, these include; Mackenzie Arnold, Hawa Cissoko, Honoka Hayashi, Risa Shimizu, Emma Snerle and Abbey Leigh Stringer.
Between the six players they have a combined 284 first team appearances, with Cissoko being the most experienced. They will all be a huge loss especially because they all left for free. It was sad to see last year’s captain, Mackenzie Arnold depart to go and play for the American side, Portland Thorns FC.
But a positive is our club captain will be back in the starting 11, come the start of the season which will be a huge plus for us. Dagny Bryjarsdottir has been absent for a whole season due to her pregnancy, but she is raring to go for the next season.
Our number 10 has scored 13 goals and gained five assists in the league in her three seasons. It will make a huge difference having her in our attack again this year. We have recently just signed France U23 star Ines Belloumou who will be joining to be our starting left back since we have lost Shimizu in the summer.
She has already played over 70 games in the top division in France so even at a young age she carries a lot of experience, which is what we need at the back. It was early in the transfer window that Skinner identified the French international, but she finally has her player and hopefully she lives up to the expectations.
Another signing we have made to bolster our defence, which we did earlier in the window, is Camila Oyaneder. The defender has joined from Madrid. The Chilean is very experienced and fits the model that Skinner is trying to play.
Our other signing is goalkeeper Shekiera Martinez who is a Germany U19 international and signed from Bayer Leverkusen. The 19-year-old has huge boots to feel after Arnold has left but she seems excited and ready for the chance.
We have improved our defence heading into the new season but, I still believe we need to add maybe one or two attackers in so we have players who can come off the bench to make a difference. Especially players with pace as that’s the way Skinner likes her attackers to play due to her counter attacking style.
This season it is looking like we are set to back our manager and hopefully this will allow more success on the pitch. I can’t wait for us to get started when we face Manchester United away towards the end of September.
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