Liverpool Women are set to lose their on-field captain, Taylor Hinds, to this season’s Champions League winners, Arsenal, when her contract expires at the end of June.
Hinds has been a staple of the Liverpool team over the last four years, helping the club regain promotion to the WSL in 2022 before achieving a fourth-place finish in 2024.
The left-back has been vice-captain of the club since 2023 but has taken on the role of on-field skipper for most of the last two years, due to club captain Niamh Fahey being consigned to the bench before retiring this summer.
Instead of taking the armband permanently, though, Hinds has decided to leave upon the expiry of her contract, choosing to join Arsenal, reported the Guardian‘s Tom Garry.
He wrote that Hinds “is understood to have been offered a new deal by Liverpool,” but “they understand and respect her decision to move to play Champions League football next season.”
The 26-year-old began her career at Arsenal before moving to Merseyside, joining Everton in 2018 and then Liverpool in 2020.
The Gunners will be playing all 11 of their WSL matches next season at the Emirates, an undoubtedly big attraction for the Jamaican international.
Last season, the Reds played three matches at Anfield, beating Man United but losing to Man City and Everton.
Another attraction of joining Arsenal is Champions League football.
Liverpool haven’t played in the competition since 2015/16 and, this campaign, they finished 19 points behind third-place Man United who occupied the final qualifying spot.
This was a regression on the previous year’s fourth-place finish, leading to manager Matt Beard losing his job in February.
Amber Whiteley took over the reins for the final part of the season and has previously indicated her desire to take the job on a permanent basis, but she is just one of a number of candidates who will be considered.
Going into the last week of June, Whiteley told the Irish Examiner that the recruitment process is “getting to the latter stages.”
As well as a manager, Liverpool Women are also looking for a head of recruitment and a physical performance coach to arrive at Melwood ahead of the new campaign.
While midfielder Ceri Holland has signed a new contract, there is doubt too over the future of some of Liverpool’s key players.
Player of the year Olivia Smith, who has two years remaining on her contract, is attracting “interest from several clubs who have made enquiries,” reported BBC Sport‘s Emma Sanders.
Meanwhile, like Hinds, midfielder Fuka Nagano sees her contract expire at the end of June and is garnering attention from elsewhere, with Man United “interested.”
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