London City Lionesses sign eight, including Alexia Putellas, ahead of 2026-27 WSL season
Ahead of the 2026-27 Women’s Super League season, London City Lionesses have signed eight players, including two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas, as owner Michele Kang pushes to elevate the club, the Guardian reported on 30 August 2026. The signings form part of Kang’s bid to continue her drive towards the top of the Women’s Super League.
The WSL debutants finished sixth last season but were 22 points adrift of the top three. Jocelyn Prêcheur, despite a strong start to the 2025-26 campaign, was sacked shortly before Christmas and replaced by Eder Maestre. Maestre was appointed in January after managing UD Tenerife in Liga F, where he guided them to sixth. Trying to predict London City’s final position next season is difficult given the scale of change at the club.
Kang’s spending and stated ambition have been central to recruiting high-profile names to the WSL. Mapi León said of her: “Everything counts when you make this kind of a decision, and of course, she was an important part because seeing another woman doing so much to help women’s sports and women’s football grow, I think it’s impossible not to value that. I think it’s something very powerful.” Evidence in the piece suggests Kang will be ruthless if the team do not meet her expectations. London City’s accounts for 2024-25 showed an operating loss of £10.6m, a result of heavy outlay before their first WSL season and even bigger spending this summer; that loss was more than 10 times their £902,000 revenue in that period.
New arrivals listed include Mary Earps, Mapi León and Kadidiatou Diani, recruited respectively from Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Lyonnes. The headline capture is Putellas, who spent 14 years at Barcelona and became a talismanic figure there. The article describes the 32-year-old as far from past her prime and says she had the pick of clubs worldwide when deciding to leave Spain; her recruitment is framed as a statement of intent from Kang. “I’m going to bring to the project whatever the project needs from me, so I’m 100% committed. I’m hungry to win, to be better day after day, to fight with my teammates for the victory” – Putellas
The 42-year-old Maestre has shifted the way London City play and the host of new signings could prove fruitful in his system. His position is not guaranteed by tenure alone and the article notes he cannot rest on that given Kang’s high expectations. The piece also warns that wholesale changes at clubs seeking to break into the top three have proved costly in the past.
Opta-defined data cited in the article showed London City made more defensive errors that led to goals and conceded more penalties than any other WSL team last season. Elene Lete saved one penalty and the players in front of the 24-year-old goalkeeper need to make her life easier. Nicole Anyomi, described as having slipped under the radar in the UK after playing her club football in Germany, scored 60 goals in 130 games for Frankfurt in five years and has four goals in 34 games for Germany; the piece suggests she could make a big impression.
Hayes Lane in Bromley, with a capacity of 5,150, is described as far from an ideal ground for a club with these ambitions. The medium- to long-term goal is to upsize, but the article says space for a ground in and around London is limited. Before any move, the club needs to increase its fanbase and it has no men’s club supporter pool to draw from.
Guardian writers' predicted position: 4th (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wrack’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips). On Friday 4 September at 1pm Suzanne Wrack will be answering readers’ questions about the new WSL season for Guardian Conversations.