Arsenal Women have confirmed the signing of World Cup winning centre-half Laia Codina from Barcelona, a story first broken by Arseblog News on August 13.
Little bit of Arsenal Women transfer news. Understand 23-year old Barcelona and #ESP centre half Laia Codina is a serious target. Arsenal want another centre half in this window to add to Amanda Ilestedt with Williamson injured and Rafaelle’s departure to Orlando Pride #AWFC
— Tim Stillman (@Stillmanator) August 13, 2023
Codina started each of Spain’s games as she won the World Cup this summer but her chances at Barcelona have been blocked by the presence of Mapi Leon and Irene Paredes. Codina is right-footed but plays predominantly at left centre-back. The Gunners have been keen to bolster their defence with Rafaelle having departed for Orlando Pride and with Leah Williamson set to miss much of next season with an ACL injury.
23-year-old Codina joins Swedish centre-back Amanda Ilestedt in joining the club this summer. Arseblog News understands that Arsenal are still keen to add a right-back with Laura Wienroither out for the majority of next season with an ACL injury. Codina will wear number 27.
“I’m really excited – I can’t wait to start with the team and to be a Gunner,” said Laia. “I knew all about the history of this club so when I found out Arsenal were interested, I didn’t think twice. We want to compete in all four competitions this season and I’m looking forward to making some memories with our supporters here.”
Head Coach Jonas Eidevall said: “Laia is a world-class defender and I’m delighted to be working with her here at Arsenal. She has a great mix of technical ability and physical presence and we believe this will allow her to adapt to our style here quickly. She has considerable experience of playing at the highest level and winning trophies, so I’m confident that she will be an excellent addition to our squad moving forward.”
Head of Women’s Football Clare Wheatley said: “We are very pleased to have confirmed the signing of Laia on a permanent transfer. We believe Laia is a top player with plenty of potential to continue to develop and progress here with us at Arsenal. Her experience of competing on the biggest stages – as we saw at the World Cup this summer – will be invaluable as we look to achieve our objectives this season.”
Great news and great job in scooping it originally Tim. Very excited to see how both Codina and Ilestedt line up for the Arsenal. Positive thoughts in the meantime to Leah Williamson and Wienroither as they recover from their ACL injuries, along with Beth Mead. Room for them all to play across four competitions when all, touch wood, are fit again. In fact it may be a self-fulfilling approach if we can play with a bigger squad to help manage the loading impact on our talented players. I know (or rather I don’t know) how ACL is such a mystery… Read more »
It’s been a bit of a mystery for a long time, but largely due to two things: lack of specific and robust research on professional female footballers and the speed of the changing nature of the women’s game. Lack of specific research for adult female footballers has primarily driven the lack of sport-specific prevention programmes (there are some out there but they’re based largely around outdated research—like early teenagers playing handball in Sweden in the early 2000s or secondary school football players in the US). There were very few studies done on female footballers, fewer on adult footballers, and even… Read more »
Good signing. She’ll fit in perfectly.
She didn’t feature in the group stage but started all four of Spain’s knockout games in the World Cup.
How do people think this will affect Lotte?
Codina, Beattie on the left, Ilestedt, Moy on the right. Redundancy and all will have plenty of games.
Think it’s likely that Lotte and Amanda will be our start pair for awhile, with Laia coming in for Lotte and Beatts coming in to help form a 3-back. Also may see Steph as LCB with Lotte and Amanda if we feel the real need to have a true lefty at LCB.
Hard to say. Horses for courses? Perhaps we will play three at the back more often? LWM doesn’t deserve to be dropped, Ilestedt is a senior player and Codina has come in search of playing time. So yes, could be tricky! But then this is Arsenal and I suspect injuries will make JE’s decisions for him.
2 absolutely top class defenders in place to start our season with, fresh from both their successes at the 2023 World Cup!
Wonderful news! Welcome to The Arsenal, Laia Codina. Great age to be joining us, another one in the growing cohort of young and exciting players. Seems like she is joining us for the right reasons, too. I may be on my own here, but I want to see Laia Codina at the base of our midfield – as a 6 who can play in the back line, rather than purely a defender. Can’t wait for the right back. I read that we were in for Guzman of Colombia, so clearly we are aiming high and looking for youngsters there as… Read more »
She’s gone to Bayern
I know. Hence “we were in” – past tense. I think it is good that we were interested.