A lot has changed at Arsenal since a 17-year-old Chloe Kelly scored on her senior debut in a 3-0 Conti Cup win over Watford at Meadow Park. Indeed, a lot has changed for Kelly too in the ten years that would follow, with one defining, shirt-waving moment at Wembley standing out in particular.

Football works in mysterious ways. Having scored the iconic Euro 2022 winning goal against Germany, Kelly’s aspirations of playing a part in the Lionesses' efforts to defend their European title in Switzerland three years later hinged on a deadline day loan move away from Manchester City.

How did we get here? Kelly has started just one Women’s Super League game this season, with eyebrows raised ever since summer signing Aoba Fujino was preferred on the wing against Arsenal on the opening day. 

Kelly’s England teammate Lauren Hemp has been injured since November, but Gareth Taylor has made Fujino and Mary Fowler his first-choice wingers in Hemp’s absence. Kelly scored eight goals in 30 games in all competitions last season, forming a formidable front three with Hemp on the opposite flank and Bunny Shaw banging in the goals upfront.

As the January transfer window wore on, Kelly took to Instagram to express her desire for pastures new in the shadow of Euro 2025. “Whilst I can’t control someone’s negative behaviour towards me, I can control how long I am prepared to tolerate it,” the 27-year-old wrote. “With my contract expiring in June I’ve accepted my future is not at this club beyond then.”

“With the Euros fast approaching, this summer is a huge one and I want to be in a position to give it my best shot to represent my country. Something which has always filled me with such pride and it is a true honour to do so. 

“However to be dictated whom I can and can't join with only 4 months left of the football season is having a huge impact on not only my career but my mental well being. The situation has dragged on for too long, it's disappointing and not right.”

Gareth Taylor on Chloe Kelly: "Arsenal made the best offer for the player so it was a simple one for us."

— Freddie Cardy (@CardyFreddie) January 31, 2025

Suitors made themselves known to Manchester City. Brighton, and Manchester United both reportedly offered to take the England winger on loan, before Arsenal’s late offer was accepted by City on Thursday.

Kelly would take to Instagram again, posting two pictures from her previous spell in red and white simply captioned “Pursuit of Happyness”. She joined Arsenal’s academy at the age of 12, spending three years with the Gunners’ senior side including two separate loan spells with Everton, who she signed for permanently in 2018. 

Whilst some loan players are simply content to be playing football and given opportunities, ticking along without really making a tangible impact on the side (sorry, Raheem Sterling), Kelly comes to Arsenal with a point to prove, and a difficult side to break into, but one that needed assistance out wide. It’s a move that makes sense for both parties.

Having publicly sought a departure away from Manchester City and with her future up in the air beyond the Euros, Kelly joins an Arsenal side where she will not walk in as a first-choice winger, but where chances to impress should come regularly.

The England forward offers something different out wide, perhaps derived from her days as a child playing cage football with her five brothers in West London. Kelly is quick and direct, an excellent crosser of the ball and a natural finisher in and around the box. 

She might not be the long-term, world-beating signing of a winger that Arsenal fans want, but if Chloe Kelly can rediscover her form, and indeed her happiness, under Renee Slegers, the Gunners can only benefit. And if not, well, it’s a loan deal. Simple.

Kelly has a Euros tournament to find form for, and a club she has fond ties with in order to do so. This could be fun.