Why world-record-breaking London City Lionesses have failed to live up to the WSL hype so far this season

As London City Lionesses prepared for their first season in the Women's Super League, the excitement and anticipation was palpable. Fuelled by the finances of billionaire owner Michele Kang, the independent club from the capital made a serious splash in the summer transfer window, with a deadline-day, world-record deal for France midfielder Grace Geyoro acting as the exclamation point. But despite such heavy investment, with half a season gone, things haven't panned out exactly as Kang and her staff would've liked.

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  Baptism of fire

  It's fair to admit that, early on in this season, things didn't look quite so good. Facing all of Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City in their first four WSL games, with reigning champions Chelsea lined up as their seventh outing, London City struggled, losing all four matches by an aggregate score of 15-3. It was a baptism of fire.

  But that's not to say there weren't positive moments in some of those fixtures, not least when they took the lead on the opening weekend against Arsenal, at the Emirates Stadium, and really troubled the European champions in the opening stages.

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17 Jan 202607:15

London City Lionesses
London City Lionesses
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  Change aplenty

  And while one could point to the amount of money spent in the summer as a reason why London City should have been performing better right away, despite it being their debut season in the WSL, the flip side of that coin is that their huge spending resulted in so much turnover that this team was not only adapting to a new level, but adapting to itself as a new group.

  Indeed, the XI that Precheur put out for the WSL season opener at Arsenal showed eight changes from the XI that played London City's final game of their promotion-winning season. That came as a consequence of a summer which saw the club make no fewer than 17 signings while bidding farewell to 13 names that helped them reach the top-flight. That's essentially an entirely new squad that wasn't going to come together as a unit overnight.

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  Big ambitions

  Yet, the ambitions of this squad were huge. Speaking to BBC Sport before the season began, veteran playmaker Kosovare Asllani said: "Personally I would not be happy for us to be a mid-table team at the end of the season. A good season would be top four."

  Saki Kumagai, the Japan international who won five Champions League titles at Lyon, also owned by Kang, wasn't as bold in her preview of the campaign. but she was still aspiring to make a splash. "For us, it’s not about staying in the WSL," she told the Guardian. "It’s about pushing towards that top three or four so the following season we can start pushing for Champions League qualification."

  However, it's not easy to come into the WSL and upset the apple cart so dramatically anymore given Chelsea, Arsenal and the Manchester clubs have opened up quite a gap between themselves and the rest of the division in recent years. United do offer inspiration to a team like London City that it can be done, as they were able to establish themselves in a 'big four' quite quickly after promotion in 2019. Yet, even their first season in the top-flight saw them finish a distant 13 points behind what was then the 'big three', averaging 1.64 points per game compared to third-placed Arsenal's 2.4 in a campaign that was curtailed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

  Compare that to where London City sit right now: The club from the capital have played 11 games and returned 1.36 points per game to sit six behind fourth-placed United at the halfway stage. That's not a bad return at all given the mass change they've undergone.

• Wing Chong

  Realistic expectations

  It is in line with what Kang wanted before the season as well. "Everyone has the excitement and the intent, but we're not taking this as a one-year project. We want to build the right foundations," she told BBC Sport back in September. "We certainly want to be at a minimum in the mid-tier to top-tier. We have an aspiration to be at the top of the game."

  Precheur believed he and Kang were on the same page with the direction and vision for this club, too. Asked about balancing big ambitions with the adaptation needed as a new group in a new league back in September, after his team had just lost 4-1 to Arsenal, the Frenchman said: "The good thing is, with Michele, we really know what the final point is. We know where we want to go. After all, we are talking about the WSL, we are talking about probably the toughest league in the world, so even if we are ambitious, we know it will be very tough and it cannot be done in just one week, or even one summer, despite all the transfers we did.

  "We know where we want to go and I'm fully convinced the club will be a big club in the near future, but how much time we need, I cannot tell you. It really depends on how fast we create this cohesion. We need to give time [for players] to arrive, adapt to a new country, a new league. We will probably have a tough beginning, obviously, but as soon as we start to adapt and create this cohesion, I stay optimistic and I think we can reduce the gap we saw today between Arsenal and us."

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  Surprising switch

  However, despite overseeing a growth in cohesion and some impressive results, Precheur will not be back for the second half of the season. Yes, London City signed off for the winter break with a couple of disappointing results, losing 1-0 to both Brighton and Leicester City in their final two outings of 2025. However, the latter could've easily been a win, given Izzy Goodwin hit the post and Asllani missed a penalty, and to lose narrowly to a very talented and well-coached Brighton team, in a game that saw them also have chances, was no shame at all.

  Indeed, BBC Sport reported that the decision to sack Precheur was actually 'not based on results' and that the club 'are where they hoped to be at this stage'. Rather, it was related to Precheur's style of play, which is not something the club believed would 'deliver long-term success'. That's fine. But why make that change midway through the biggest season in the club's history and risk disrupting the flow of a campaign that was on track to lay strong foundations for the future? Could that have not waited until the summer?

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  New direction

  Eder Maestre, the 39-year-old who seriously impressed during his time in charge of Tenerife, leading the club to a sixth-placed finish in Liga F in the 2024-25 season, is the man tasked with picking up the results baton from Precheur while also delivering the style London City want. The Spaniard is highly-rated and it's clear to see why he was an attractive appointment. Yet, change in the dugout is something that will only require more adaptation for a team that already has plenty of that on its plate.

  Can Maestre get up to speed with understanding his new team and players, plus a new league and a new language, quickly enough to deliver the results and performances the club desires? Especially while implementing a style the club clearly believes will be drastically different to Precheur's? His first game in charge is at least a little forgiving, in the form of a trip to bottom side Liverpool, and then a clash with second-tier Sunderland in the FA Cup follows.

  But after that, Maestre's London City will face Man City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, respectively, in a six-game, eight-week spell. Those are not games where his team will be allowed to dictate and play their own game.

  It's certainly a bold move by a bold club with huge aspirations. But will it prove the right one? Early opinions might be that this could instead set London City back a little at this stage of their journey, but only time will tell if the Lionesses have got this right when it comes to their lofty long-term ambitions.