Georgia Stanway is an Arsenal player! Lionesses star completes Gunners move after ending four-year stint with Bayern Munich

Stanway’s arrival was announced on Friday, with the 27-year-old to wear the No.4 shirt in north London. “It’s an unbelievable feeling and I’m so proud to be joining Arsenal,” she said. “This is a massive club that is driving the women’s game forward to new levels and I want to be a part of it. I want to win trophies and grow as a player, and this is the right place to do that with the backing of an incredible fanbase.”

Arsenal boss Renee Slegers added: “Georgia is a brilliant midfielder and we’re thrilled that she is an Arsenal player. She will add a new dimension to our midfield, bringing experience and adding to our winning mentality. We look forward to getting down to work in pre-season ahead of a big campaign ahead.”

While the club did not confirm the length of the deal signed by Stanway, Arseblog reports that it is a three-year contract with the option of a further year.

It’s a move that marks a return to England after four years away for Stanway, with her enjoying plenty of team and individual success in that time.

At Bayern, she won eight trophies, including four successive Bundesliga titles and two domestic trebles, while also being part of the side that reached the Champions League semi-finals this year, which represented the club’s best run in the competition in five years.

Most notable during Stanway’s time in Germany, though, was her individual development. After finding herself, in her own words, at a “standstill” and “plateauing” at Manchester City, the midfielder ended her seven-year association with the club to join Bayern in 2022, where she would revive her career.

In Bavaria, the England star bounced back to establish herself as one of the best midfielders in the world, thanks to her performances for both Bayern and those with the Lionesses that came in the same spell, with her playing a key role in England's back-to-back European Championship triumphs and their run to the 2023 Women's World Cup final. Indeed, Stanway earned a first Ballon d’Or nomination shortly after the latter tournament, which served to highlight her growing stature.

As such, Stanway arrives at Arsenal as one of the game’s top midfield players and, after playing in a deeper role last season especially, as someone with versatility that can benefit an area of the Gunners’ squad that needed to be strengthened in this summer transfer window.

Slegers’ side have become too reliant on Kim Little and Mariona Caldentey in recent times, something emphasised last season amid the unavailability of Kyra Cooney-Cross for periods. Stanway’s signing addresses this issue, with the seemingly imminent arrival of another midfielder, in Eintracht Frankfurt’s Geraldine Reuteler, to only further bolster the position and widen the options available as Arsenal pursue a first Women’s Super League title in eight years in the 2026-27 season.

Stanway looks set to be the first of a whole host of signings made by the Gunners as they try to scale the domestic mountain again, too.

As well as Reuteler, Arsenal have been persistently linked with a deal for former Barcelona full-back Ona Batlle, who stands out as one of the best in the world in her position. Meanwhile, Arseblog reported just last week that moves for both Germany international forward Selina Cerci, who has scored more Frauen-Bundesliga goals than any other player in the last two years, and 19-year-old winger Lisa Baum, for whom RB Leipzig would demand a significant fee.

With Katie McCabe, Beth Mead, Victoria Pelova, Laia Codina and Manuela Zinsberger having all departed the club upon the expiry of their contracts last month, it is going to be a significant summer for Arsenal with plenty of change. The Gunners will hope all the reshuffling can propel them back to the top of the WSL for the first time since 2019.