Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall says it was a ‘tough decision’ to allow Jordan Nobbs to leave for Aston Villa this month. Nobbs had been at the club for 12 and a half years before joining Aston Villa this month.
Asked in his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s WSL clash at home to Chelsea, the Gunners boss said ideally he would have liked the player to stay but respected her wishes to depart.
“It was a tough decision because Jordan was a valued team member. She played an important role not only on the pitch but off the pitch.
“What created a situation and why Jordan asked to go because her role in the team in terms of playing minutes was not what she liked. That is how it is sometimes but for her it was even more significant because it impacts the probability of being selected for England.
— Tim Stillman (@Stillmanator) January 12, 2023
“That created a desire for her to go elsewhere. We had to look at it from that perspective, that we have a player that we value so much but we have to look at the history and see has given everything to the club for 12 years.
“She is asking us for a favour to be able to go and we reached the conclusion on how it looks for us for Jordan to go because that is her desire. Then we identified that we could bring in Katherine Kuhl and that is a player with a very bright future and there might be a possibility to bring her in.
“She is ready to come into the squad and play a role and we can also grant Jordan’s wish because her service has been so excellent. From a squad perspective, I would have liked to have kept her but we wanted to show respect to the history she has with the club.”
Bit cheeky calling it a “favour” to let Jordan go! We weren’t using her and frankly she was doing us a favour by staying until now. Anyway, I suppose that is the club’s perspective and I’m glad she has been able to leave without bad feeling on either side.
Tough Decision my foot, Eidevall has never been keen on Jordan right from the start!
I will miss her 😐