Manchester City have announced that young Lionesses forward Chloe Kelly has signed for the blues on a two-year contract.
The 22-year-old impressed many with her performance with Everton this season, scoring nine goals in her twelve league games in the 2019/20 season, the fourth-highest scorer in the division.
The forward has also played a number of times for England, making her debut in November of 2018.
However, she chose not to extend her contract with the Toffees at the end of the season and has made the switch to the City Football Academy ahead of the 2020/21 campaign.
Her deal will keep her in Manchester until the end of the 2022/23 season.
'I can't wait to get going'
Speaking to mancity.com when the transfer was announced, Kelly spoke of her excitement to get started with the blues:
“I’m unbelievably excited. I’m just so happy to have the deal sorted and I can’t wait to get going - I’m honoured to be a City player,” she said
“Manchester City are a hugely ambitious club whose aspirations match my own and as soon as I had my initial discussions with the staff, I knew there and then that it was the place I wanted to be.
“Having spoken to Gareth [Taylor] too after he joined the team, I could sense immediately what a great manager he is and I was excited by the idea of working with him.
“The development made by a number of young players at the Club was massive for me, and the opportunity to play Champions League football was a real draw too.
“Now it’s all sorted, I’m genuinely so excited for what is to come in the blue shirt.”
'An incredibly exciting young talent'
New Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor spoke about how happy he is to see the young striker join the blues:
“We're thrilled that Chloe has put pen to paper to join us here at Manchester City.
“She is an incredibly exciting young talent who has broken onto the scene in the Barclays FA Women's Super League and the England set-up in recent years, but there's still so much more to come from her.
“I'm delighted that we now have the opportunity to help Chloe in the next part of her development journey as she continues her growth as a player on the way to fulfilling her potential.”
A perfect replacement for Bremer
With German forward Pauline Bremer opting to depart Manchester City in favour of VfL Wolfsburg, Chloe Kelly could fill the gap that is left.
The blues' front line is one that is packed full of quality players, which may result in Kelly not always receiving a spot in the starting lineup, but with the aforementioned Bremer and Tessa Wullaert leaving, Kelly should help to fill the losses.
Only 22, she adds to the list of young talent who choose to play their football at the City Football Academy and will be influential in next season's Champions League and Women's Super League campaigns.
Although Gareth Taylor does not lack good options for his attack, Kelly will be able to help the new manager as he aims to impress in his first season.