Arsenal Women have completed the signing of Japanese playmaker Mana Iwabuchi from Aston Villa after a long pursuit of the 2011 World Cup winner.
Iwabuchi nearly joined Arsenal in the summer of 2019 and the winter of 2020 but was blocked by the Japanese FA until the Olympic Games in Tokyo had taken place, information Arseblog News had confirmed by Joe Montemurro earlier this year.
WOW 🤩
What a strike from @buchi_mana! #BarclaysFAWSL pic.twitter.com/aino2C2Lyc
— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) February 6, 2021
Iwabuchi signed for Villa in January on a six month contract but will join the Gunners after the Olympics have taken place. Iwabuchi was a teammate of Lisa Evans and Vivianne Miedema at Bayern Munich as well as Manu Zinsberger and Viki Schnaderbeck.
Mana will represent Japan in this summer’s Olympics before joining up with the club in August for their Champions League qualifiers. She currently has 74 caps and 31 goals for her country.
About time…. Buchiiiiii 😍🔴⚪️ @buchi_mana https://t.co/MlYiGMOQOG
— Vivianne Miedema (@VivianneMiedema) May 26, 2021
“I’m so happy to finally be able to announce that I am an Arsenal player!” said Iwabuchi, speaking to Arsenal.com. “I know the club has wanted to sign me for a long time now, so it’s a great honour to be able to play for Arsenal. There are so many amazing players and I can’t wait to get started.”
Yes. Another important part in #Vivfor4moreyears is in the house. Now we will some more players and a coach to really strengthen the team. Are there infos by now?
What would you do if she left?
That goal! OMG! Jaw drops
Great replacement for Jill! I think she’ll fit in well. Hopefully it’ll work out really well between her and Viv and it’ll make Viv resign next year as I don’t believe she’ll resign this year. She’s going to see how things work out with the new coach and then make her decision next year.
If we have to believe the rumors, we’ll need another midfielder as well. I’m still curious where Engen is going to end up…
Why was the move blocked by her home FA?
Stupidity! They wanted her at home in Japan for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. How did that work out for you then, Japanese FA?
The USWNT works on a similar basis, the domestic calendar is all rigged up for international meet ups whereas the European calendar isn’t. They just said she should stay until after the Olympics, then the Olympics was postponed and it became even messier!
Also, in women’s football, players are often centrally contracted to their FA’s for international teams. So they do pay the players and, therefore, have every right to have a say.
Very good but we are still waiting for the new manager shortlist while all the other decent players are being snapped up!
All we’ll be left with is the unwanted 8 from Villa and 11 from Spuds although I thought Alana Kennedy is pretty good and might have been a possible if Joe was still around and Beats and Viki still look dodgy for next season.
Welcome to The Arsenal, Buchi!
Mana from Heaven?
Just seen a report concerning a possible swap of Miedema to Lyon with Nikita
Parris coming to Arsenal any one know anymore?
The Guardian has reported that there have been talks between Arsenal and Lyon about swapping Miedema and Nikita Parris. It says that Arsenal might be interested in Parris even if the players aren’t traded. Trading Miedema for Parris seems insane, given that Miedema has a year left on her contract and has to be happy with the Buchi signing. And why would Lyon want both Miedema and Hegerberg, given that they play the same position? Where’s the sense in this idea?
Tim, do you have more information on the possible Miedema Parris swap?
Ridiculous if this goes through.. like if Barcelona were to swap prime Messi circa 2008 for Nicholas Anelka..
Just when I thought the women’s team seems better run than the men’s..
I know! I’m really wondering who is behind this news and who is profiting from it – because I can’t see the advantage of it. If this is meant to force her to make a decision on extending her contract, this surely won’t help, I think. I’ve heard that Miedema isn’t interested in going to Lyon at all. So why even try such a weird move?
Just here to say Good Ebening. Manages to win 4/5 EL finals, loses the one with the most expensive team. I wonder if it might just be that Arsenal are sort of like a team that has all red lines between them in FIFA ULTIMATE TEAM.
While I’m pleased for him, I think the loss with us was because he came up against a strong Chelsea side. He was also not suited to the team or the country and a lot of the players didn’t really understand what they were doing. His communication, as hard as he tried, was very basic in English. He’s clearly much better in Spain with his native language, where he can get his ideas across and has restored his reputation there. I think he could go on to manage one of the top three in Spain eventually. Of course, there were… Read more »
I’ve never played FIFA Ultimate Team because I don’t believe in paying for micro-transactions.Not least for a game like FIFA that becomes outdated in 9 months.
I guess the red lines mean something bad?
And what has this got to do the signing of Mana or indeed the women’s team in general?