Arsenal Close In on De Almeida as WSL Transfer Record Summer Reaches Deadline
Arsenal are expected to finalise the signing of France defender Élisa De Almeida before the 11pm BST Women's Super League transfer deadline, after agreeing a fee of just over £500,000 with Paris Saint-Germain (The Guardian).
Sources in France had earlier suggested the fee could reach about £550,000 (BBC Sport), but the most recent reporting places it at just over £500,000 for a 28-year-old centre-back who has played for PSG since 2021. De Almeida was part of France's squads at both the 2023 World Cup and Euro 2025, giving Arsenal a defender with serious tournament experience.
The move is not official yet. A search of arsenal.com returned no announcement of the signing, only a match report from June 2024 in which De Almeida scored for France during international duty (Arsenal.com).
Arsenal's push to strengthen at centre-back has two clear causes. Vivianne Miedema's knee injury has heightened the need for squad depth, and Katie Reid's recovery from an ACL injury — the anterior cruciate ligament, the knee injury that sidelines players for months — sustained last November is being managed carefully. She is not expected back before November of this year (The Guardian).
De Almeida is not the only WSL name on the move. Manchester United secured Mexico international Rebeca Bernal, a midfielder who can also slot in at centre-back, on Wednesday. She will be available for Friday's season opener against London City Lionesses, but United's new head coach Eva Olid confirmed no further signings would follow before that match. Olid, the former Hearts manager, used the word "attacking" eight times in a 17-minute press conference and said any further additions would wait until January (The Guardian).
Crystal Palace, meanwhile, brought back a familiar face. Shanade Hopcroft, a 28-year-old former Chelsea academy product who helped Palace win promotion in 2023-24, returned on a two-year deal (The Guardian).
One PSG move that did not materialise: Manchester City were interested in Nigeria midfielder Jennifer Echegini, but PSG were less willing to let her go (The Guardian).
The broader numbers tell a striking story. Fifa's mid-year snapshot report showed global spending on international women's transfer fees this summer surpassed $28m (£20.7m) — more than double last summer's $12.3m, and up from just $1.23m in 2022. English clubs led the way with $8m, followed by Spain at $6.6m and Germany at $4.9m (The Guardian).
For context on the gap Arsenal and others are chasing, Chelsea spend nearly three times as much as Manchester United on their women's team wage bill in the most recent published accounts (The Guardian).
The WSL season gets under way on Friday, when London City Lionesses host Manchester United.
