Introducing our Tottenham Hotspur Women players

We are delighted to present the first group of players who will form part of the Tottenham Hotspur Women squad ahead of our historic debut season in the Women’s Super League (WSL).

Following our promotion from the FA Women’s Championship at the end of last season, the Club has been working hard to make preparations for an exciting new era in the top tier of the women’s game.

With the squad reporting today for the start of pre-season training, we can confirm the signing of seven new players. They’re joined by 11 members of last season’s promotion-winning squad in signing full-time professional contracts, with further additions expected in the coming weeks as the countdown to the start of the 2019/20 season continues.

All player signings remain subject to FA confirmation.

Goalkeeper Becky Spencer joins us from West Ham United. A vastly experienced player in the Super League, the 28-year-old joined the Hammers last summer from Chelsea and made 16 appearances for them.

She began her career in the youth system at Watford before moving to Arsenal, later spending time on loan at Nottingham Forest and Gillingham. After playing for ASJ Soyaux in France, she returned to the UK and had two separate spells at Birmingham City, either side of a return to Arsenal. She’s previously been capped by England at Under-19 and Under-20 levels and received a call-up to the senior England squad in 2016.

Defender Ria Percival also arrives from West Ham and brings a huge amount of international experience, having won 143 caps for New Zealand to date, making her the record appearance-maker for her country. The most recent of her international appearances came at this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in France – the fourth World Cup she’s been involved in. She also formed part of her nation’s squad for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Born in Basildon, Ria began her club career at Lynn-Avon United in New Zealand before switching to American side F.C. Indiana. She subsequently played for Ottawa Fury in Canada then headed to Germany where she represented FFC Frankfurt and FF USV Jena. She spent four seasons at the latter side, making 77 appearances, and played for a further two years in Switzerland for FC Basel before joining West Ham in 2018, where she made 25 appearances and started this year’s FA Women’s Cup Final.

Left-sided defender and Netherlands international Siri Worm joins us from Everton, where she has played in the Super League for the last two seasons. Prior to her arrival at the Toffees, she spent nearly 10 years in her homeland at FC Twente, where she won five Dutch league titles between 2011 and 2016, in addition to the KNVB Women’s Cup in 2015. She also featured for them in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

The 27-year-old has won over 30 caps for the Netherlands, scoring against Japan at the Algarve Cup in 2018.

England Under-21 international midfielder Chloe Peplow arrives following an 18-month stint at Brighton & Hove Albion. Born in Redditch, the 20-year-old began her career at Birmingham City and featured for them as a substitute in the 2017 FA Women’s Cup Final against Manchester City.

After spending the first half of the 2017/18 season on loan with Doncaster Rovers Belles in the second tier, she joined Brighton in January, 2018, and played in their Super League campaign last term. In all, she made 25 appearances for the Seagulls and reached the semi-finals of the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup with England Under-20s last summer.

Forward Rosella Ayane also brings experience of the Super League with her as she joins from Bristol City. The 23-year-old helped City to a sixth-place finish in the division last season in what was her second spell with them, having initially spent time on loan there from Chelsea in 2016.

After rising through the ranks with the Blues, she also had loan spells at Millwall and Everton before moving to Cypriot First Division side Apollon Limassol for the 2017/18 campaign, where she registered an astonishing 19 goals in 19 games in all competitions. She has also represented England at Under-17 and Under-19 levels.

Forward Gemma Davison arrives with a wealth of experience at the very top of the game under her belt. The 32-year-old has won the Super League four times during a glittering playing career – once with Arsenal in 2012, again with Liverpool two years later and then twice with Chelsea in 2015 and 2018 – and is a two-time FA Women’s Cup winner, once with Arsenal in 2013 and then again as part of Chelsea’s double-winning campaign in 2015.

Capped 16 times by England, Gemma had four separate spells with the Gunners in the first half of her career, interspersed with time in America playing for New York Magic, Chicago Red Eleven, Buffalo Flash, Western New York Flash and Sky Blue FC. She moved from Arsenal to Liverpool in 2013, then on to Chelsea in 2014 and spent last season at Reading.

Also bolstering our attacking set-up is forward Lucy Quinn, who has spent the last two seasons at Birmingham City. The 25-year-old made 33 appearances for the Blues, scoring four goals, including a Goal of the Season contender in a 3-2 win over Chelsea last term.

Born in Southampton, Lucy started her career at Portsmouth Ladies, remaining there for six years before moving to Yeovil Town Ladies in 2016, where she helped them earn promotion to the Super League. Away from the domestic game, she represented England at the Euro Beach Soccer Cup in 2017, playing as a goalkeeper, before representing Great Britain in the World University Games that same year in her more familiar attacking role, collecting the tournament’s Golden Boot as top scorer in the competition.

Familiar faces

Staying with us for the 2019/20 season from our promotion-winning squad is goalkeeper Chloe Morgan. The 29-year-old is in her second spell at the Club, having also spent time at Arsenal, and was a mainstay in the side last season as we finished as runners-up in the FA Women’s Championship. She started 18 of our 20 games in the league, in addition to four starts in the cup competitions.

Defender and Club captain Jenna Schillaci is now entering her 11th consecutive season at the Club and 12th overall. After spending one campaign with us at the start of her career, she went on to represent Queens Park Rangers and Enfield Town before returning here to Spurs more than a decade ago. The 35-year-old centre-back has been a reliable figure at the heart of our defence as we’ve worked our way up the women’s football pyramid over recent years, winning eight trophies along the way, including the quadruple during the 2016/17 season. A set-piece specialist, she started all but one of our Championship games last term, scoring two goals, and added a further five appearances in the Continental Tyres Cup, plus two in the FA Women’s Cup.

Lucia Leon also remains from last season. Born in Spain, she represented Madrid CFF before arriving at Spurs in 2013 and has shown her versatility by operating in a number of different roles on the pitch, primarily at right-back last term. The 21-year-old started six games and made a further 11 appearances from the bench in the Championship, with another three starts and four substitute appearances in the cup competitions.

Left-back Ashleigh Neville was our Player of the Season in her first campaign with us – 2017/18 – following her move from Coventry United Ladies and impressed again in the Championship last term, starting 19 of our 20 games and scoring four goals, including two memorable second-half headers to complete a stunning turnaround at Charlton in April – a result that saw us take a giant leap towards securing promotion. The 26-year-old picked up the FA Women’s Championship Player of the Month award for that same month – the first defender to claim the prize – and produced a last-ditch goal-line clearance in the 1-1 draw at Aston Villa in May that finally saw us over the line and secured a place in the top tier. Additionally, she started both our matches in the FA Women’s Cup, scoring in the 3-0 win at Crystal Palace in February, and added another four starts in the Continental Tyres Cup.

Central midfielder Josie Green has been capped at senior level by Wales and represented Watford before joining Spurs. She is now entering her fourth season with our first team. A combative player who helped us win the quadruple in 2016/17, the 26-year-old scored two goals last season – once at home to London Bees in the Championship and once at Crystal Palace in the Continental Tyres Cup – and made 16 league appearances for us, 15 of which were starts. She also started six times in the cup competitions.

A current Welsh international, brave and technically-gifted defensive midfielder Anna Filbey scored her first two goals for the Club in our final-day victory at Durham in May. A former Arsenal youngster, the 19-year-old crossed the north London divide ahead of the 2018/19 season and made six domestic appearances last term, in addition to four starts in the Continental Tyres Cup and one in the FA Women’s Cup.

Box-to-box midfielder Sophie Mclean began her career at West Ham United before joining us in 2013. The 23-year-old was part of the side that won four trophies in 2016/17 and started 15 games for us in the Championship last term, adding another two appearances as a substitute. She played a further four times in the cup competitions.

Another talented midfielder, England Under-23 international Coral-Jade Haines has experience of playing in the Super League already under her belt, having previously represented Birmingham City in the top flight. The 23-year-old spent the 2017/18 season on loan with us before making the move permanent last summer. She scored four goals in six matches in the cup competitions in 2018/19 and also played in 18 league games, 15 from the start, scoring once.

Influential forward Jessica Naz is an England Under-19 international who returned to the Club at the start of last season following a spell at Arsenal, having initially been here at Spurs between the ages of 12 and 15. A constant threat with her athleticism and technical ability, she scored four goals in 17 Championship starts last season and also hit the target against Crystal Palace in the FA Women’s Cup. Still only 18, she also played in all five of our games in the Continental Tyres Cup.

Forward Angela Addison moves up another level with us, having joined from C&K Basildon in the FA Women’s Premier League South last summer. The 19-year-old netted six goals in 19 Championship games for us in 2018/19, including a memorable stoppage-time winner at home to Leicester City in February. That goal contributed to her being shortlisted for the FA Women’s Championship Player of the Month award that month. Angela also enjoyed six cup outings for us over the course of the last campaign.

Our top scorer in 2018/19, striker Rianna Dean netted 14 goals in 19 Championship starts, making her the joint-second highest scorer in the entire division. Among that haul was a hat-trick against former club Millwall Lionesses in October, while she added two further goals in five Continental Tyres Cup appearances, in addition to playing twice in the FA Women’s Cup. Her impressive performances last term led to her being named the FA Women’s Championship Player of the Month for October and becoming the only player outside the top flight to be shortlisted for Women’s Player of the Year at the London Football Awards. An England Under-21 international, the 20-year-old began her career at Arsenal before moving to Millwall in 2017, where she top-scored in her one season before coming to Spurs.

Heather Cowan, the Club’s Head of Women’s Football, said: “Our coaching team of Karen Hills and Juan Amoros have worked tirelessly over the summer to assemble a squad ready for our step up to the Women’s Super League.

“We’re immensely proud of the journey our players and staff have been on to get to this point and we’re pleased to see our squad taking shape ahead of this exciting new era.

“It goes without saying that we’re delighted to welcome some new faces to the Club, who bring a mix of talent, experience and, in some cases, extensive international pedigree to the table. It’s also fantastic that we’ve been able to retain 11 players from our promotion-winning side from last season.

“Of course, we’ve also had to make some extremely tough decisions regarding outgoing players. On behalf of the Club, I’d like to express our sincere thanks to those players who are moving on this summer. Whether they’ve been here for many years or a shorter time frame, they have all played their part in helping us get to this point and they leave us with our very best wishes for the future.”