1 year ago
31
Yash Thakur
Jul 17, 2025, 05:00 AM ET
Arsenal person announced the arrival of 20-year-old guardant Olivia Smith from Liverpool for a women's world-record transportation fee.
The Canada planetary is the archetypal pistillate to interruption the £1 cardinal obstruction ($1.36 million), surpassing the erstwhile grounds acceptable by Chelsea's £900,000 ($1.1 million) transportation of USWNT defender Naomi Girma successful January, and the Gunners person added different subordinate to their ranks since winning the UEFA Women's Champions League successful May aft the signings of Chloe Kelly and Taylor Hinds.
In 2019, Smith made headlines by becoming the youngest elder Canada planetary astatine 15 years and 94 days. After moving from North Toronto Nitros, Smith's breakthrough came for Sporting CP during her archetypal nonrecreational play successful 2023-24 arsenic she scored 13 goals successful 18 appearances.
- Summer transportation model grades: Arsenal get an A for Smith
- Women's satellite transportation grounds history: Smith overtakes Girma
In summertime 2024, Liverpool signed her for a club-record interest of conscionable implicit £200,000, and she scored 7 times successful 20 Women's Super League appearances -- astir a 3rd of the club's full goals past season.
Here is simply a look astatine wherefore Arsenal decided to walk large to motion her.
What presumption does she play?
Smith is simply a right-footed winger who chiefly operates connected the close side; although, she is susceptible of playing done the mediate arsenic a cardinal striker. During the 2024-25 season, she mostly played arsenic a portion of a beforehand 2 successful Liverpool's 3-5-2 formation, oregon arsenic the close winger successful their 4-2-3-1 setup.
Either way, she was awarded state to determination astir up beforehand and often dropped deeper to person the shot with her backmost to goal, earlier turning and moving astatine her opponents.
What are her strengths?
Her superior strengths prevarication successful her dribbling ability. She has a batch of speed, but besides the quality to alteration absorption instantly -- choosing to caput wrong oregon extracurricular arsenic good -- which adds a furniture of unpredictability to her game. Her adjacent power successful choky spaces and quality to bounce disconnected challenges besides makes her a nightmare to support against.
Smith played for a Liverpool broadside that was nonstop successful its buildup, which constricted her clip and touches connected the ball, but she was fantabulous erstwhile successful possession. The stat of "progressive carries per 100 open-play touches" gives you an thought of however often a subordinate attempts to marque a progressive carry, and the winger is successful the apical quartile for some attempted take-ons and normalized progressive carries among forwards.
She is successful bully institution alongside Chelsea duo of Johanna Rytting Kaneyrd and Mayra Ramírez, who are some known for their shot carrying, portion she is besides accompanied by her caller Arsenal teammate Caitlin Foord. Indeed, Smith's 3.6 attempted take-ons (with a 58% occurrence rate) besides enactment her successful the apical bracket and suggests immoderate stylistic similarities with Foord, which bodes good for her adaptability.
Smith loves to sprout arsenic well. While chiefly close footed, she is bully with some feet and took 49 shots past season, the joint-sixth highest by immoderate subordinate successful the WSL. That's immoderate feat erstwhile you see Liverpool's wide deficiency of shot-creating ability, and Smith often had to make chances for herself utilizing her gait and accomplishment to make space. Only Aston Villa duo Kirsty Hanson and Ebony Salmon, arsenic good arsenic Manchester City's Kerolin, created much shots from take-ons (9) than Smith (8). And nary subordinate scored much of these opportunities than her (2).
Smith's speedy footedness and repertoire of skills marque her hard to work and let her to gully fouls. Only West Ham's Viviane Asseyi (51) won much fouls than Smith (46) successful the WSL past season, and 9 of those resulted successful a changeable effort wrong the adjacent 2 actions.
The youngster besides has a knack of making a people against large sides. She caused a batch of problems for Arsenal successful their FA Cup quarterfinal necktie and scored against Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City crossed each competitions past season.
What does she request to enactment on?
There are questions astir however Smith volition play successful a much possession-dominant side. The winger played for a Liverpool broadside that averaged 47.4% possession past play and relied connected opportunities successful transition, often against unsettled defenses with yards of abstraction to tally into.
However, the Gunners averaged the second-highest possession successful the WSL past play (62.5%) and perpetually faced defenses acceptable up successful a debased artifact with players down the ball.
While Smith's quick-footed quality is simply a large portion of her dribbling armory, the deficiency of abstraction successful down mightiness hinder the interaction of her wide dribbling, which could effect successful immoderate unwanted turnovers and a flimsy driblet successful her dribble occurrence rate.
How volition Smith acceptable successful with Arsenal's tactical plan?
Renée Slegers retained immoderate cardinal aspects of Jonas Eidevall's tactics aft taking implicit from him successful October, but she besides added her ain spin.
Under her guidance, Arsenal's wingers are asked to determination the shot up the transportation owed to their nonstop shot carrying nature, particularly since Chloe Kelly's arrival, but are besides trusted to sprout and transverse the shot frequently.
Without the ball, though, they are expected to lend to the team's property and prosecute with the absorption backline successful their ain third. Smith fits similar a mitt successful this philosophy; she is an progressive defender with a superb enactment complaint and is ever a cardinal constituent of her side's front-footed approach.
Only Arsenal's Mariona Caldentey (24) made much tackles successful the last 3rd than the Liverpool starlet (20) past season. And, among forwards, lone Manchester United's Celin Bizet (98), Chelsea's Kaneryd (90) and Asseyi (88) made much shot recoveries than Smith (77) past season.
Why did Arsenal privation her?
Aside from adding a young subordinate of sizeable quality, Arsenal had the second-oldest squad successful the WSL past play (27.6 years of age), down lone Aston Villa (27.7). A batch of their important players, successful presumption of minutes played, are heading distant from their peak, truthful Smith's summation is an influx of youth. Indeed, she joins Kyra Cooney-Cross, Rosa Kafaji and Frida Maanum among the players who precocious arrived astatine the nine property 21 oregon younger.
At 20, she brings down the mean property successful attack, adding extent and should besides beryllium eligible for a homegrown slot successful the adjacent mates of seasons, which volition assistance Arsenal with subordinate registration.
While her world-record transportation interest mightiness measurement dense connected her shoulders, Smith seems susceptible of carrying it and has already proven however effectual she tin beryllium successful the WSL.
