Arsenal Women have announced the signing of Jodie Taylor from San Diego Wave for the remainder of the 2022-23 season.

The striker joins the Gunners after they failed to sign a striker in January following season ending injuries to Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema.

Pursuits for some of the top players in that position such as Alessia Russo and Signe Bruun were unsuccessful, with Jonas Eidevall snapping up Taylor after the expiration of her contract at the NWSL side.

Taylor scored ten goals for Arsenal in her previous spell for the club in 2016 and 2017, and told the club’s website that it “feels like I never left” the club upon her return.

Taylor won the Champions League with Lyon in 2020 after spells with Melbourne City and OL Reign, playing with Arsenal left back Steph Catley at both clubs.

She has seen success with the Lionesses too, scoring 19 goals in 51 appearances for her country.

At 36, Taylor becomes the oldest player in the current Arsenal squad and will add experience on and off the pitch in the latter stages of the season.

Her involvement on the pitch will likely be to add competition in the forward roles, but Stina Blackstenius should remain as Jonas Eidevall’s first choice striker.

Taylor will be unavailable for the Champions League quarter final against Bayern Munich due to Arsenal being only allowed to register three of their mid-season signings for the competition. It was announced earlier on Friday that Sabrina D'Angelo, Kathrine Kuhl and Victoria Pelova where the trio included in Arsenal's squad, with Gio Quieroz, and now Taylor, left out.

A desperate move from Jonas Eidevall or a canny bit of transfer business?

We will have to see.