Beth Mead will leave Arsenal this summer when her contract expires, bringing an end to a nine-year spell in which she scored 86 goals across 265 appearances and established herself as one of the most decorated players in the club’s history. The England forward joined from Sunderland in 2017 and leaves with a Women’s Super League title, three League Cups, a UEFA Women’s Champions League trophy and the FIFA Champions Cup to her name.
The 31-year-old, who turned 31 on 9 May, played a decisive role in Arsenal’s second European title in May 2025. Introduced as a substitute in the Lisbon final against Barcelona, she produced a sublime pass for fellow substitute Stina Blackstenius to score the only goal of the match.
“Beth will go down in history as one of our best forwards and a legend of the club,” said Clare Wheatley, Arsenal’s director of women’s football. “Beth is such a special person and will always be welcome at Arsenal. I know our supporters will join me in wishing Beth happiness and success in her future endeavours.”
Mead’s individual achievements place her among the defining figures of English women’s football. At the 2022 European Championship, she was named player of the tournament and won the golden boot as the Lionesses lifted their first major trophy. That year she was also named BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year and BBC Sports Personality of the Year, becoming the first female footballer to claim the latter award. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours.
Her momentum was halted four months after the Euros triumph when she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament rupture in November 2022. The injury sidelined her for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. She returned to action 11 months later and has since regained her best form, playing a key part in England’s successful retention of the European Championship title in Switzerland last summer.
Mead also finished as runner-up for the Ballon d’Or and UEFA Player of the Year in 2022, was named England Women’s Player of the Year for 2021–22, and won Arsenal’s Player of the Season award for the same campaign. She remains the WSL’s all-time assist leader.
Her rise began at Sunderland, where she scored 66 goals in 88 games across five years and is regarded as one of the club’s greatest players. In her first season in the second-tier FA Women’s Premier League she scored 23 goals in 23 games. In 2015, aged 20, she became the youngest player ever to win the WSL golden boot.
Arsenal announced Mead’s departure alongside those of two other players. Spanish centre-back Laia Codina will leave after three seasons, having made 58 appearances and scored four goals since joining from Barcelona in 2023. With Arsenal she won the League Cup in 2024, the Champions League in 2025 and the Champions Cup in 2026. Codina previously won two Champions League titles with Barcelona and spent a season on loan at AC Milan. She was part of Spain’s 2023 World Cup-winning squad and was selected for the 2024 Olympics, where Spain finished fourth. A pelvic injury ruled her out of UEFA Euro 2025 and required surgery; she had not started a match for Arsenal since 19 February 2026.
Midfielder Victoria Pelova, a Netherlands international, will also depart this summer after 87 appearances and six goals for the club. The 25-year-old joined from Ajax in January 2023 and won the same three trophies as Codina. Her progress was severely disrupted by an ACL rupture suffered on international duty in June 2024. That injury kept her out for most of the 2024–25 season. She returned to play for Arsenal’s under-21s in February 2025 and made her first WSL appearance since the injury the following month, but has since found regular minutes hard to come by with Kim Little and Mariona Caldentey established in midfield. Pelova had made only five WSL starts and 15 substitute appearances this season.
ACL injuries and a changing squad
Mead’s own ACL injury was part of a broader pattern that has affected several Arsenal players in recent seasons, including Leah Williamson, Vivianne Miedema and Laura Wienroither. The departures of Mead, Codina and Pelova mark a significant shift at the club under manager Renée Slegers, as Arsenal look to reshape a squad capable of challenging for a WSL title they have not won since the 2018–19 season. The club are reportedly set to sign Georgia Stanway on a free transfer and are linked with Geraldine Reuteler.
