England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton is set to leave Aston Villa after her contract expires this month. The 22-year-old, who left Birmingham and joined Villa in the summer of 2021, has been connected to Chelsea. For Villa, Hampton made 43 appearances across all leagues, and she contributed to Carla Ward’s team’s fifth-place finish in the 2022–23 WSL. She was a member of the England team that won the European Championship on home soil last summer. She has two caps at the senior international level. Hampton got her first call-up since that tournament in March, and Lionesses manager Sarina Wiegman praised her performance and noted that Hampton had “needed to sort out some personal issues (and) has) done that.” She has now been included to Wiegman’s 23-player roster for the World Cup this summer in Australia and New Zealand.
Hannah Hampton departs from Aston Villa with a prospective transfer to Chelsea. The promising 22-year-old has trouble since West London already has three international keepers on the roster. Even if they had to play the long game, Chelsea would not want to lose out on a player who may develop into one of the greatest in her position in Europe. If Hampton does sign with Chelsea, then plan for her to be loaned out to another WSL team the following season so that her development may continue. Hampton has attracted interest from WSL clubs other than Chelsea, including Barcelona in the past, as well as Spanish teams.
After being demoted from the Women’s Super League, Reading will transition to a part-time setup. After losing to Chelsea on the last day of the campaign, Kelly Chambers’ team was eliminated from the top tier for the first time since 2015. Reading was relegated from the Championship and finished last in the WSL, five points outside of safety. This added to Reading’s poor season and forced the club to realign its finances. Since 2018, Dai Yongge has put about £6 million into the women’s squad, which has faced off against Premier League clubs’ supported teams.
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