Laia the land

The loss of Rafaelle to Orlando Pride, coupled with Leah Williamson’s ACL injury made Arsenal’s pre-season planning in defence tricky last summer. Firstly, in Rafaelle, they had something of a unicorn- a top class, experienced centre-half who is left-footed. Such players are at an absolute premium in elite women’s football at the moment. Only Mapi Leon comes to mind as a genuinely world class left footed central defender.

Williamson’s injury in April meant Arsenal were facing the first half of the campaign without their first-choice centre-half pairing. Amanda Ilestedt was a smart signing in this respect, she was 30 years old, out of contract at PSG and had played under Jonas Eidevall before. As a starter for Sweden, she was a good plug and play signing to fill the short-term void left by Williamson’s injury.

Left centre-half was more complicated and the Gunners signed Laia Codina from Barcelona to fill that gap. Codina found herself behind the aforementioned Mapi Leon at Barca (Leon’s decision not to play for Spain last summer freed up space for Codina to start for her country at last summer’s World Cup, however). Codina is right-footed but had spent most of her career as a left-sided centre-half.

There was an unfortunate irony for Codina as she left Barca to seek first-team football and, as it turned out, Mapi Leon was injured for most of last season and Barca played Ingrid Engen in her position. Had Codina stayed put she probably would have played more often last season at Barca than she did for Arsenal.

Ilestedt had to come into Williamson’s position and with Wienroither injured and Rafaelle’s departure, Wubben-Moy stepped into the left centre-half role. Given the level of upheaval in the back line (with McCabe often played at right-back to boot prior to another new arrival in defence in January in the shape of Emily Fox), the continuity Wubben-Moy provided was very important for a team undergoing a high level of change.

In short, these were not prime conditions for Codina to come straight into the team. Wubben-Moy’s form was such that she comfortably and deservedly won Arsenal’s Player of the Season award. At 25, Lotte was ready to take on greater responsibility and make her mark at her childhood club and she grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

Williamson’s post-Christmas return meant that the two Arsenal academy graduates, Williamson and Wubben-Moy, were straightforward choices at centre-half. However, Codina did feature in important moments in the spring. She endured a shaky debut on the left of a back three away at Manchester United, after which she struggled with some muscle injuries.

In the first five minutes of the home win over Manchester United in February, she nearly made a catastrophic error in the opening minutes, allowing Nikita Parris in on goal. It was an error borne of rust (fans of the men’s team might recall an error Jorginho made in September at home to Spurs which came off the back of an extended spell without playing time).

After that, however, she acquitted herself really well. It was notable that Arsenal began to play her on the right of the central defensive partnership when she played next to Wubben-Moy. This is important because being able to play on both sides of the central defensive partnership has been a crucial facet in Wubben-Moy’s development.

It meant for two seasons she was able to deputy for Rafaelle and Leah Williamson and she earned a lot of playing time due to that versatility. It strikes me that Arsenal are looking to build similar positional resilience with Codina. The Spaniard also played in the second half of the Conti Cup Final when Williamson had to go off injured and was singled out for commendation by her manager.

‘You have a player like Laia Codina coming in at half-time, she doesn’t put a foot wrong in the whole game and has a massive part in us winning.’ Unfortunately, Codina struggled again with muscle discomfort at the end of the season, which prevented her from stepping in for the last few games of the season when Wubben-Moy had a foot injury.

The question is how 2024-25 develops for Codina, who has taken the number 5 shirt vacated by Jen Beattie and worn by other big ticket centre-halves like Gilly Flaherty and Casey Stoney. Much will depend on injuries, of course. It might be this season that another centre-half suffers an injury and she has more of an opportunity to string some games together.

When describing Lotte’s ascension from third choice to player of the season, Eidevall put it down to the player’s mentality, as well as her quality when I asked him about it in April. ‘Football is not that linear in its development. So you need to keep on going, keep on going, keep on going, keep on going. And when you don’t think you will see progress or get a reward, you still need to keep on going, keep on going.

‘And then it comes. And that’s why you need to be so mentally strong in this game, and Lotte is a prime example of that.’ Codina remains a starter for Spain, she has had time to acclimatise to the WSL and to England and will be joined by her long-term Barcelona and Spain teammate Mariona Caldentey.

Hopefully, next season she can rid herself of the muscle injuries that complicated her inaugural season. She will likely go to the Olympics with Spain this summer, which could complicate the beginning of next season for her but, equally, it could mean she comes into the season well-tuned.

I think the defensive situation will reset a little now compared to last summer. In Wubben-Moy, Williamson and Codina, Arsenal have three settled international centre-halves. I don’t know yet whether the club will seek to plug the gap left by Amanda Ilestedt’s maternity leave. Personally, I wouldn’t. I think between Steph Catley and one of Katie Reid and Teyah Goldie can cover off the fourth centre-half role until Ilestedt returns and Arsenal can re-assess in 2025.

Codina has taken the number 5 shirt now, she has a starting space in the Spain team to hold onto and, ultimately, she left Barcelona to play. She has every incentive to push someone like Wubben-Moy and her ability to play on both sides of the centre-back partnership should see her get a high number of minutes even as a third choice. There is a small irony that Wubben-Moy’s own trajectory should act as an inspiration for Codina.