The WSL's 2026 summer window is shut, and the gap between the clubs who planned and the clubs who drifted has rarely looked this wide. Some sides enter the new season genuinely stronger. Others are thinner than they were in May and hoping nobody notices.
The sides who got it right
Tottenham were surgical. Six signings, all of them purposeful. Kirsty Hanson and Shekiera Martinez add proven attacking output. Caitlin Dijkstra, Victoria Pelova and Alice Sombath bring Champions League experience — Pelova and Sombath with league titles from Arsenal and OL Lyonnes respectively. Goalkeeper Selma Panengstuen follows manager Martin Ho from SK Brann, as does forward Signe Gaupset. Hanson worked under Ho at United. This is a squad being built around a specific identity, not assembled by committee.
A year ago Spurs were fighting relegation. Now they're credible top-four candidates. If this window is the start of a pattern rather than a one-off, the timeline to title contention gets shorter fast. Fifth place last season is the floor, not the ceiling.
London City Lionesses went bigger — as they always do under Michele Kang. Alexia Putellas, the first Ballon d'Or winner to join a WSL club, headlines a window that also brought in Mapi León, Mary Earps, Kadidiatou Diani and Nicole Anyomi. On paper, it's the most eye-catching squad assembled in the division's history. On the pitch, fitting 29 players into a 25-player registration limit, managing playing time across elite egos, and building genuine cohesion from a group of individuals assembled in months — that's the real test. The investment is there. The chemistry isn't yet.
The wider story of this window was the free transfer market. Putellas, Ona Batlle, Georgia Stanway, Misa Rodríguez, Beth Mead, Katie McCabe and Khiara Keating all moved without fees. Contracts were run down, leverage was used, and clubs redirected budgets toward single high-value signings. Chelsea paid £500,000 to bring in Giulia Dragoni. Spurs broke their record for Sombath. Felicia Schröder moved to Real Madrid for over $1.5 million. The market is maturing — deals were largely done before August even started, and the final weeks were almost silent.
United and City heading into the season half-built
Manchester United's summer is harder to explain the longer you look at it. Last season they ran deep in the Champions League on a threadbare squad. The response? Let six players leave — including Melvine Malard, last season's top scorer, who went to Chelsea for £800,000 — sign four, and leave themselves with just two senior centre-backs. That £800,000 from Malard's sale hasn't visibly gone anywhere. Marc Skinner, who built the entire project, has left after five seasons. His replacement Eva Olid inherits a squad that is objectively less equipped than the one that earned those Champions League nights. United's title odds were already long. Their squad depth odds are now a serious concern too.
Manchester City's situation is different but the conclusion is similar. They won the WSL title last season. Now they're heading into their first European campaign with a squad that looks narrower than it did in May. Kerolin has gone to Barcelona for over £1.2 million. They chased PSG's Jennifer Echegini and Everton's Ornella Vignola and got neither. Beth Mead arrives from Arsenal on a free, Niamh Charles from Chelsea for £500,000 — reasonable additions, but not the kind of depth that covers injuries to Shaw, Miedema, Hemp and Greenwood simultaneously. That combination nearly derailed them last season, when they weren't managing European fixtures. Retaining Bunny Shaw was the priority, and sources suggest they beat Chelsea's reported £1 million base salary to do it. That may have consumed more of the budget than the club would publicly admit.
Charlton are the third team in the losers column, though their situation is more structural than self-inflicted. Newly promoted clubs routinely struggle to match WSL spending power — but this cycle is harder because both Birmingham City and Crystal Palace, also promoted, have more financial resources and have already recruited accordingly. Birmingham snapped up Millie Turner and Lisa Naalsund from United. Palace brought in Bethany England and Molly Bartrip from Spurs. With the WSL expanding to 14 teams and only one club relegated this season, Charlton have some margin for error — but if January doesn't bring reinforcements, the drop back down looks more likely than not.
