Are Manchester City ready for Champions League football?
City are back in Europe but can their squad cope with the challenge?
Manchester City have been relatively quiet during a transfer window full of blockbuster moves across the WSL.
The departure of Brazilian forward Kerolin to Champions League winners Barcelona has been their biggest move so far. The Catalan giants moved for one of City’s top performers last season and after lengthy discussions over fee, agreed a deal worth around £1.25m.
Given that Kerolin was signed on a free from the NWSL’s NC Courage, the deal is pure profit for City, giving them a chance to refresh their attack and secure the futures of key players with expiring contracts.
The club were linked with Arsenal’s Katie McCabe and Beth Mead on free transfers at the end of April, capturing Mead on a three-year deal but missing out on McCabe as she opted to stay in London with Chelsea.
Mead’s signing was a surprise given City’s already impressive attacking depth, but Chelsea’s acquisition of McCabe made their existing first-choice left-back, Niamh Charles, surplus to requirements. City jumped on the chance to sign the next best thing to McCabe, paying around £500,000 for Charles and making her their second signing of the summer.
Charles replaces departing left-back Leila Ouahabi, who joined Chicago Stars of the NWSL last month. Ouahabi played a massive part for City in the first half of last season, but found herself on the periphery after veteran defender Alex Greenwood came back from injury.
City academy graduate goalkeeper Khiara Keating also found herself on the fringes last season, failing to nail down the number-one spot after Ayaka Yamashita’s arrival in 2024. Keating opted not to extend at City and moved to Liverpool on a three-year deal.
Backup goalkeeper Katie Startup also bid farewell to the Joie Stadium after two years at the club and veteran midfielder Laura Coombs retired at the end of the season, while Japanese right-back Risa Shimizu has returned from her loan spell at Liverpool.
22-year-old English defender Naomi Layzell, whose two-year City career has been hampered by injury, also left the club in search of regular minutes at Everton.
This means City’s squad currently looks like this:
After losing Kerolin, City must now focus on keeping their core intact. The first order of business must be to renew contracts set to expire in the next year, including their longest-serving player Lauren Hemp, vice-captain Kerstin Casparij, last season’s breakout stars Laura Blindkilde Brown and Aoba Fujino, and talisman Vivianne Miedema.
City’s rivals have strengthened this summer after the Sky Blues dominated the WSL last season. If they are to continue their success, City cannot afford to lose any more of the players that success was built on. With the Kerolin money banked, they are well-placed to keep them, as all of the aforementioned players have shown a willingness to stay at the club.
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