Beth Mead is close to agreeing a move to Manchester City, the Guardian understands, after it was confirmed she will leave Arsenal this summer when her contract expires after nine years at the club.
The England forward has made 265 appearances and scored 86 goals for Arsenal since joining from Sunderland, winning one WSL title, three League Cups, the Champions League and the Champions Cup to become a key name in the club’s modern history.
Sources have confirmed she is in advanced talks with City, the new WSL champions, who are understood to hope Mead will bolster their forward options for their Women’s Champions League campaign. Their leading scorer, Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, is leaving and Chelsea are the favourites to sign the Jamaica international but City are expected to try to sign a No 9 in addition to Mead, whose partner, Vivianne Miedema, plays for the club.
Mead played an important role in Arsenal’s second European title last May. Her clever pass created the only goal for fellow substitute, Stina Blackstenius, against Barcelona in the Lisbon final.
Arsenal’s director of women’s football, Clare Wheatley, said Mead “will go down in history as one of our best forwards and a legend of the club. Beth is such a special person and will always be welcome at Arsenal. I know our supporters will join me in wishing Beth happiness and success in her future endeavours.”
Mead, who turned 31 on Saturday, won the player of the tournament and golden boot awards at the European Championship in 2022 when the Lionesses lifted their first major trophy and was the BBC women’s footballer of the year and BBC sports personality of the year. Four months after the Euros triumph, an anterior cruciate ligament rupture kept her out of the 2023 World Cup.
Mead has since been back to her best and was a key part of the England team that retained the European Championship title in Switzerland last summer.
Mead attracted Arsenal’s attention after scoring 66 goals in 88 games for Sunderland in five years. The Whitby-born forward got 23 goals in 23 games for Sunderland in her first season in the second-tier FA Women’s Premier League and in 2015 became the youngest player to win the WSL golden boot, aged 20.
Arsenal announced Mead’s departure after confirming the Spain centre-back Laia Codina and the midfielder Victoria Pelova, will also leave this summer. Codina made 58 appearances and scored four goals for Arsenal after joining in 2023. Pelova, a Netherlands international, made 87 appearances after joining from Ajax in January 2023, but has had only five WSL starts and 15 substitute appearances this season. An ACL injury in the summer of 2024 ruled her out for most of the last season.
