Arsenal’s academy forward Michelle Agyemang has signed her first professional contract with the club. The player agreed a deal in principle last year but could not rubber stamp the signing as she was 17 at the time.
Now 18, Agyemang spent this season on loan at Championship side Watford scoring six goals and winning a Championship Player of the Month award during her stay. She has made five first team starts and scored in the Gunners 9-0 win over Leeds in the FA Cup last season. Agyemang also scored against Arsenal for Watford in the FA Cup Fourth Round in January.
Michelle Agyemang said: “Arsenal Football Club is like family to me, so signing a professional contract here is just incredible, it really is what dreams are made of. I’m really grateful for the opportunity and I can’t wait to continue playing for the Arsenal.”
Academy Manager James Honeyman said: “We are delighted with how Michelle has progressed and are so proud of her journey to get to this moment. Michelle has been a key part of our academy set-up over several years and we’re all looking forward to seeing what she achieves in the professional game.
Director of Women’s Football Clare Wheatley added: “We’re thrilled that Michelle has put pen to paper on professional terms with us. Michelle has shown great goal scoring and playmaking ability at academy level and with hard work and dedication, we believe she has all the potential to apply this in the professional game.”
Arsenal have Agyemang, Laila Harbert and Freya Godfrey back from dual registration loans in the Championship, which concluded last week, and the Gunners can register one of them for the remaining two games if they wish. Amanda Ilestedt’s maternity leave means they are allowed to register an additional player in the squad to replace her.
If 19 year olds don’t need to take up a squad spot(Goldie, Williams) why do 18 and 17 year olds?
When they sign a dual registration deal they have to be registered as part of the squad. Williams and Goldie didn’t.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
Congratulations, Michelle Agyemang.
Our female Drogba 🫡
Hope she turns into Lauren James++. No, that is asking too much, more or less Lauren James is already massive.
Without the chronic stamping….
Thanks Tim! I just read another good article involving the Women’s team that you have contributed on. https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/40067958/can-arsenal-record-breaking-fan-base-take-back-top-wsl
It is great to see the continuity between the Men’s and Women’s teams.
Great news – looking forward to seeing her progression and the rest of this age group. Maybe another Championship loan or squad place at Palace would be a good next step.
For a second, with my terrible vision, I thought that Aubameyang had just resigned…
Congrats and best of luck Agyemang!
Give her a run out for the final two games she might be able to hit the target! Seriously, we will not lose third spot and overtaking Chelsea for second is unlikely in the WSL, despite Emma’s team doing their best to help us, so why not? All good experience for the young player.
Although Michelle’s goal against Leeds was against a side that couldn’t defend, I thought that the way she finished it was excellent. The ball came to her off the post and she had the goalie and a defender charging at her. Had she just hit the ball it would probably have been blocked, but she moved them both out of the way with a sidestep, before scoring. Really calm for a kid making her debut.
The way she stood up to our defenders in the Conti Cup game was pretty impressive, too.