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Tottenham Hotspur Women’s latest signing was an Arsenal player, but she’s proper COYS. The club today announced the signing of 18-year old defender Gracie Pearse on a contract through 2023. She will be loaned to Crystal Palace in the FA Women’s Championship for the whole of the 2021-22 season.
✍️ We are delighted to announce the signing of Gracie Pearse.
— Tottenham Hotspur Women (@SpursWomen) July 22, 2021
The defender has signed a contract until 2023 with the option to extend for a further year and will rejoin Championship side Crystal Palace on loan for the 2021/22 season.
Welcome to Spurs, Gracie! pic.twitter.com/BA5Of7PQUB
Pearse was part of the vaunted Arsenal academy since she was eight years old, but also spent the past season on loan at Palace in the women’s second division. Despite playing her football with Spurs’ arch-rivals, she has a close connection to Spurs as she stated on Tottenham’s website.
“My dad is a huge fan of this Club so deep down, I always knew it was meant to be that I would eventually become a Spurs player – it gives me huge pride to represent my Dad and the rest of my family in that way. I associate the Club with him which motivates me even further as a player to want to represent the Club to my full potential. It’s not just because we’re Spurs fans though – I’m excited to be here because I really do believe that Spurs will be moving in the right direction towards the top of the WSL in the coming seasons and I want to be a part of it.”
I’ll be honest and say I haven’t seen Pearse play, but Rehanne Skinner giving her a long term (for WSL) contract and sending her on loan to the FAWC implies that she has a ton of potential and could be a really solid player if she continues to develop. Let’s hope she does! I’ll be tracking her progress at Palace this season.
Welcome to Tottenham, Gracie!