Manchester City are strongly pursuing the free agent signings of Arsenal duo Katie McCabe and Beth Mead.
Mead and McCabe, both 30, are on contracts which expire at the end of this season.
No deals have yet been agreed and nothing can be signed until June 1 due to restrictions on clubs speaking to players under contract at teams within their association.
Sources close to both players insist no deals have been finalised. However, sources briefed on the matter say there is growing anticipation that City will get the moves over the line at the end of the season.
The Athletic reported in February that McCabe’s Arsenal future was in doubt. The defender has also attracted interested from reigning WSL champions Chelsea.
Mead and McCabe joined Arsenal in the 2017-18 season, the former from Sunderland and the latter from Glasgow City. Mead has made over 250 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 78 goals, while McCabe was celebrated on Sunday ahead of Arsenal’s 2-1 Champions League semi-final first-leg victory against Lyon for reaching 300 appearances for the reigning European champions.
Despite some scepticism of Mead’s playing time this season upon Arsenal’s record-breaking £1million signing of Canada winger Olivia Smith last summer, the England international has played a critical role in their season. She has provided two goals and five assists in the Women’s Super League and three goals and three assists in the Champions League.
Smith’s arrival has not lessened Mead’s importance to Arsenal this season (Harry Murphy/Getty Images)
McCabe has also been key for Arsenal this term and is relishing one of her best seasons for Arsenal. The left-back has featured in 35 matches across all competitions, registering a goal and two assists in the WSL. The Ireland international has been extremely impressive in displaying her versatility across the backline and in midfield, regularly filling in at centre-back due to injuries in Arsenal’s defence as she did on Sunday.
Arsenal are in advanced talks over a deal for Barcelona’s Ona Batlle. The 26-year-old right back is capable of also playing on the left and is seen as the likely replacement for McCabe.
Mead was unavailable for Arsenal’s first-leg semi-final against Lyon due to personal reasons. Her partner, Vivianne Miedema, who plays for City, was also unavailable.
Arsenal sit fourth in the WSL, albeit with three games in hand and 11 points separating Renee Slegers’s side from leaders City, who have two games remaining.
With Champions League football all but secured for next season, City are looking to bolster their depth to compete on multiple fronts. City currently boast Kerolin, Aoba Fujino, Lauren Hemp, Mary Fowler and Iman Beney as their wingers.
However, full-back remains a position lacking in depth. Alex Greenwood, who plays centre-back for England, is deployed at left-back and Netherlands international Kerstin Casparij on the right, with 33-year-old Spanish defender Leila Ouahabi deputising.
Shock moves provide interesting dynamic to title run-in
Analysis by women’s football writer Megan Feringa
Many expected Mead and McCabe to depart Arsenal this summer but few would have expected them to join a direct WSL rival.
Mead and McCabe are synonymous with Arsenal and to see them in the blue of City will take some getting used to. But this season has shown the value of the pair on the pitch, with Mead and McCabe playing integral parts in Arsenal’s charge in Europe and their potential to take the WSL title race to the final day.
City need to add depth ahead of a European campaign but they will also want to add experience to a squad that is one of the youngest in the WSL. Both players are European champions with Arsenal, and the influence they bring to a young but promising squad could be invaluable. The move will also see McCabe and Mead link back up with their former Arsenal team-mate Miedema.
Mead’s move will also lift City’s number of homegrown players in the squad (WSL rules require teams to name a minimum of eight homegrown players in their 25-player first-team squads).
However, the move does raise questions of game time and how best to accommodate the swathes of attacking talent at Jeglertz’s disposal.
If there is a department City are suitably stacked in, it’s on the wing with Hemp, Kerolin, Fujino, Fowler and Beney. The latter has been touted as one of Europe’s brightest attacking talents. This season, she has made 15 WSL appearances for City, albeit only four from starting positions and she has been deployed across the front line and at right back and right-wing back. Even so, she ranks amongst the highest in WSL for xG and xGA per 90 and has regularly shown the promise of her signing. She delivered the winning goal in City’s crucial 3-2 win over Arsenal in October and she provided a late assist to Khadija Shaw in the 3-2 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion over the weekend.
Arsenal have been linked with a number of players ahead of the summer and are keen on lowering their average squad age (the oldest in the WSL), so while the exits of Mead and McCabe will sting for some fans, the strategy is about progression.
Even so, their potential moves to City make for an interesting dynamic in the final weeks of the WSL season as the duo attempt to kibosh their future employer’s ambitions for the league title.
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