Arsenal Re-Sign Jodie Taylor On Short-Term Deal From San Diego Wave

After failing to sign a striker in the January transfer window to replace their injured forwards, Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema, FA Continental Cup winners, Arsenal have re-signed their former player Jodie Taylor until the end of the season after the expiration of her contract in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) with San Diego Wave.

Taylor previously signed for Arsenal in March 2016, but injuries prevented her from making her debut until the final game of that season. Despite scoring ten goals in 17 matches at the club, after Arsenal signed the much-coveted Miedema from FC Bayern in the summer of 2017, Taylor opted to leave shortly afterwards, signing for Melbourne City FC.

Now 36, the itinerant striker has played for 17 club sides on three continents. She represented England at three major tournaments between 2015 and 2019, scoring 19 goals in 51 internationals. Taylor was most recently traded to San Diego Wave, her fifth club in the NWSL, in December 2021, scoring one goal, the club’s first-ever in the league away to Houston Dash, during the regular season.

Arsenal lost both of their leading goalscorers, Mead and Miedema, at the end of 2022 to anterior cruciate ligament injuries which in all probability means they will play no further part this season. Speaking about this in the middle of the one-month January transfer window, Arsenal head coach, Jonas Eidevall admitted, “I would be disappointed if we didn’t bring in a prolific goalscorer”.

However, despite being linked with bids for Manchester United’s Alessia Russo and Benfica’s Cloé Lecasse, the window closed with Eidevall failing to bring in a new signing up front. He did recall Brazilian forward Gio Queiroz from her season-long loan spell at Everton but yesterday did not include her in his revised UEFA Women’s Champions League squad for the knockout stages beginning next week.

Taylor, who preceded Mead as the top scorer at the UEFA Women’s Euro in the previous edition of the tournament in 2017, has signed after the registration period for the Champions League closed so will not be eligible to play in that competition. Nonetheless, the experienced striker, who previously played in the Women’s Super League for Birmingham City and Lincoln Ladies as well as Arsenal, will be eligible to lead the line for the North London club in their remaining eight league matches.

Taylor signed for French champions Olympique Lyonnais in August 2020 in similar circumstances to compensate for the long-term loss of their leading goalscorer, Ada Hegerberg. On that occasion, she was eligible to play in the UEFA Women’s Champions League and came on as a substitute in their final victory over VfL Wolfsburg.

Speaking about her return to the club, Taylor, who will wear the number 27 shirt, said “it’s incredible to have this opportunity to come back to the club that I love so much. A lot of progression has happened here in the last five years since I was last here and to see how much the club has grown and progressed is incredible. I’m very happy to be here.”

Eidevall added that “we’re really pleased to have brought in Jodie to help us from now until the end of the season. She has a proven track record for scoring goals and we know her experience will be a great asset to the whole dressing room. We have so much to fight for this season and Jodie will help us on that journey.”

Arsenal’s Head of Women’s Football, Clare Wheatley said “Jodie is a really experienced and talented player and will give us added competition at this crucial stage of the season. We’re delighted to bring her back to the club and all have great memories of working with her in her previous spell here.”

Arsenal will not play this weekend as they have already been eliminated from the Women’s FA Cup. With Taylor ineligible to play in the UEFA Women’s Champions League tie next Tuesday away to FC Bayern, she could make her second debut for Arsenal in the North London Derby away to Tottenham Hotspur in Leyton on March 25. The deal is subject to the completion of regulatory processes.