Georgia Stanway to join Arsenal from Bayern Munich on free transfer

Georgia Stanway will join Arsenal at the start of July on a free transfer from Bayern Munich, the Guardian understands. Subject to the 27-year-old passing a medical, everything has been agreed for the England midfielder to make the move when her contract expires with the Frauen Bundesliga club.

Bayern Munich confirmed in January that Stanway would leave at the end of her deal, after four successful years in which she has helped Bayern win four Bundesliga titles.

Stanway was a key part of the England sides that have won back-to-back European titles and reached the 2023 World Cup final. She has scored 32 goals in 91 internationals and is widely considered one of the world’s best central midfielders.

Previously a central part of Manchester City’s team, she has been popular in Germany. In January, Bayern’s director of women’s football, Bianca Rech, praised her “commitment and character” and said Stanway had “stolen our hearts”, before explaining that they had talked openly about her future and the club understood she wanted to try something knew.

Arsenal are understood to have been monitoring Stanway for several years and identified her as a target before last summer’s Champions League final success as part of their succession planning in midfield and with a view to trying to reclaim the WSL title for the first time since 2019.

Arsenal are close to finalising the signing Géraldine Reuteler on a free after the Switzerland international’s exit from Eintracht Frankfurt was confirmed. An attacking midfielder who can also play as a forward, Reuteler has scored 54 goals and provided 45 assists in 184 games for Frankfurt, including 10 goals this season. She was one of the host nation’s star performers at last summer’s European Championship.

Arsenal have announced the summer exits of Beth Mead, Katie McCabe, Victoria Pelova, Laia Codina and the goalkeepers Manuela Zinsberger and Naomi Williams.