On Thursday morning, Swedish outlet Expressen and women’s football reporters Rich Laverty and Tim Stillman broke the news that Arsenal had made a move for Hammarby and Australia midfielder Kyra Cooney-Cross.
Cooney-Cross has a contract ending in December, and a number of clubs planned to wait and attempt to pick her up on a free transfer at that stage.
But Arsenal opted to pay a significant fee to secure the player before that happens.
Sky Sports’ Anton Toloui reports that a fee of around £140k has been discussed, which put other clubs off. But talks with Arsenal are ongoing, and a deal is expected to be done by midnight.
The BBC report that Arsenal are hopeful of signing the midfielder and willing to pay a large fee, with heavy interest in her from various Women’s Super League clubs.
21-year-old Cooney-Cross helped Melbourne Victory to win the W-League in 2020/21, before transferring to Hammarby on a two-year contract at the start of 2022.
The young midfielder has already made 25 appearances for Australia, most recently making it to the World Cup semi-finals.
Cooney-Cross started every game and played almost every minute for Australia at the tournament, only coming off once in the 116th minute of their quarter-final against France.
If all goes well, Cooney-Cross will hold a medical with Arsenal today, finalising her deal before the deadline at midnight.