Beth Mead to join Vivianne Miedema at Man City? WSL leaders pursuing free transfers for England star and Arsenal team-mate Katie McCabe

McCabe and Mead are among several first-team stars at Arsenal whose contracts will expire at the end of this season. While McCabe has been a vital piece for the Gunners again this season, playing various roles to help mitigate injuries and put the club on the brink of a second successive Champions League final, an exit has seemed likely since a report from the Guardian in early February suggested as much.

Mead's future, however, has been less clear-cut. The England winger was pursued by newly-promoted Women's Super League side London City Lionesses last summer, but chose to stay with Arsenal instead. Now, the Athletic is reporting that Man City are chasing the signatures of both her and McCabe, with any deal for Mead set to see her reunite with partner Miedema, who left Arsenal two years ago. The report notes that nothing is finalised but that there is a 'growing anticipation' City will get the moves over the line.

City's squad is well-stocked in the wide areas, with Lauren Hemp, Kerolin, Mary Fowler, Aoba Fujino and Iman Beney all on their books. However, the club will compete in the Champions League next season, increasing the demands on a squad that will need to be deeper to cope with as much. Adding Mead would help in that regard, while also freeing up the likes of Kerolin and Fowler to play more centrally at times, as they can.

McCabe, meanwhile, would make a lot of sense as a summer signing because City are crying out for a left-back. Leila Ouahabi has fallen increasingly out of favour in the position, despite being a natural there, with head coach Andree Jeglertz instead deploying Alex Greenwood there, to varying degrees of success. The England international is much better centrally and adding a top quality left-back like McCabe would allow her to return to that position.

Both players would add a lot to City's attack and the club will hope they will provide great service for star striker Khadija Shaw, but her future is very up in the air right now. The WSL's leading goal-scorer, who has netted 22 times in 28 games in all club competitions this season, is also out of contract this summer and the Athletic reported last week that Chelsea have tabled an offer that would pay Shaw £1 million a year ($1.35m) - one City have yet to match.

The report says that the striker's preference is to remain in Manchester, where she has developed into a world-class centre forward since arriving five years ago, but nothing has been agreed yet. Shaw has had offers from outside of the WSL, too, from clubs in Europe and the United States. Keeping her at the club should be of the greatest importance to City, who look set to end a 10-year wait for another WSL title this season, with Shaw a big reason they are in such a position.

As for Arsenal, they also have plenty of contract situations to deal with beyond just that of McCabe and Mead. Several renewals have been sorted in recent weeks, with captain Kim Little and striker Stina Blackstenius among those to sign new deals before defender Steph Catley joined them in doing so just this week. Head coach Renee Slegers also put pen to paper on a new contract earlier this year.

However, Caitlin Foord, Victoria Pelova, Laia Codina and England captain Leah Williamson are all also on expiring deals, with goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger confirmed in recent days to be leaving when her contract ends this summer. According to Arseblog, the Gunners would not like to lose both Foord and Mead this summer, such is the knock it would deal to their pool of wingers. Indeed, the report says the club was willing to offer Mead a new deal, but that City are likely to offer a longer one.

In more positive news, Arsenal do appear to be very active on the incomings front. Ona Batlle, the Barcelona full-back, is in advanced talks with the Gunners about a move to north London, in a deal that would fill some of the void left by McCabe's exit. England international Georgia Stanway is also seemingly on the brink of joining the club, as her time with Bayern Munich comes to an end.