Arsenal Women midfielder Laila Harbert has signed her first professional contract with the club. Harbert turned 18 this week and has put pen to paper on her first pro deal.
Harbert is the England Under 17s captain joined Arsenal’s academy at the age of nine in 2016. Harbert has featured for the first team in friendlies and has been on the bench for UWCL games but has yet to make her senior bow, she spent the second half of last season on a dual registration deal with Watford alongside fellow academy graduates Katie Reid and Michelle Agyemang.
‘It’s such a proud moment for me and my family to be able to put pen to paper on a professional contract at a club that feels like home,” said Laila. “I joined Arsenal’s academy at such a young age so to be able to invest my future in a place that I’ve grown up in is a special feeling”.
Head of Player Development James Honeyman added: “Laila has made her way up through our academy to become part of the first-team squad, and we couldn’t be prouder of her and the way she has developed. At Arsenal, one of our key focuses is to ensure that our youth players have clear development pathways into first-team football, so to watch Laila progress to the next level is a proud moment for all involved.”
Director of Women’s Football Clare Wheatley said: “We’re thrilled that Laila has signed her first professional contract with us. Laila has been a key part of our academy in the different age groups and has made a great start to life around the first team, thanks to lots of hard work and her dedicated attitude. We’re delighted to see another great prospect come through our academy set-up and we look forward to seeing Laila continue to grow here.”
Fantastic news – she is a very worthy captain of the England u17 side. Congratulations to Laila Harbert. Nice to see a CDM coming through from the academy.
I do hope this means an immediate loan for her to get the experience which she needs to develop further. I can understand wanting to keep her close and out of the clutches of other clubs so near to her 18th birthday, but now we can let her prove herself.
Excellent! Can the next signature please be Renee on a manager’s contract!
We have a game in 9 days and at present we haven’t even got an interim boss!
Couldn’t agree more, Peter 🙂 And a Happy New Year to you!
And to you mate! Let’s hope the Gunners can make us all happy in 2025!
I agree renneslegers should be offered a contract,even if its only for a year, the team have done wonders under her management
Perhaps 18 months would be ideal – involves less pressure from both viewpoints.
I’m really pleased that the offering of pro-contracts to our academy prospects seems to be accelerating. That now makes 6 over the last 3 years. Prior to them signing it goes back to Carla Humphrey in 2017, although I understand that both Chloe Kelly and Ruby Mace declined contract offers.
I wonder what the situation is with Viv Lia. I expected her to be signed when she turned 18 at same time as Katie Reid?
Next hot prospect in line? Maddie Earl hits 18 this month.
I’m a bit worried about the Viv Lia situation, I’ll be honest. I need an announcement!
She still appears regularly in the first team squad training pictures. Perhaps she has decided to follow Lotte and Lessi down the US college path.