Well that was an interesting transfer window wasn’t it! There were some incomings and outgoings early, and the same as the window drew to a close. In this article I want to focus on deadline day itself and in particular the addition of two goalkeepers, Nicky Evrard and Sophie Baggaley.

As the summer wore on, particularly within a few weeks of the conclusion of the World Cup, it became clear that Lydia Williams was unlikely to return. She hadn’t featured in any training footage and wasn’t present at the Spanish training camp. I mightn’t have noticed, but after not actually playing in the World Cup it seemed strange that she would require any additional time off to recuperate. Katie Startup handled the job capably in our friendly games and may be unfortunate to start this season as third choice keeper. Williams played fairly well for the Albion in her time here and was always a pleasant character, stopping to chat with fans after the game. Its a shame she didn’t get a longer stint between the sticks for us, but the chance to return to Australia in the latter stage of her career was obviously too tempting to turn down.

The timing was odd though. The club only announced her departure the day after the window closed and they’d added two new goalkeepers. Either the club were aware of Williams’ situation and didn’t say because they didn’t want the asking price for goalkeepers to be inflated – or it was a late decision. In both cases it’s probably not ideal to have two new goalkeepers on the squad that have had zero time in pre-season to gain experience with their new teammates, but it is what it is.

It also makes it challenging to evaluate where both Baggaley and Evrard are in terms of match-sharpness. A video dropped last week on X (formerly Twitter) which showed Baggaley in training, but not Evrard who was presumably on international duty with Belgium. So whilst the former has been with the team, the latter has been actually playing competitively. Another clue as to who may start the season was added to the mix on Tuesday when the squad numbers were announced. Evrard took the literal number one jersey, whilst Baggaley will wear 32. Personal preference or an indication of what’s to come?

How it all shakes out after this season remains to be seen. Do the club see Evrard as a potential future signing, a player with international experience and clearly well-regarded by Chelsea? Or are they looking to bed Baggaley in with the view that she becomes the starter with more games under her belt?

We’ll have more on this I’m sure as the situation unfolds…