Arsenal have confirmed the exciting news that Michelle Agyemang has signed her first professional contract with the club.
The highly-rated young forward, who joined Arsenal at age six, has long been considered a future star and made her senior debut in November 2022 at just 16.
The young striker previously signed a pre-agreement to sign professional terms once she reached 18, which happened in February, but there had been no confirmation until today.
Arsenal said: “We’re delighted to announce that Michelle Agyemang has signed her first professional contract with us. Our England youth international forward joined us at the age of six in 2012 and has shown strong development and progression during her time with our academy.”
Michelle made her senior Arsenal debut at the age of 16 during our Barclays Women’s Super League victory over Leicester City in November 2022, while a first senior Arsenal goal followed in our Women’s FA Cup clash with Leeds United on 29 January 2023.
Now 18, Michelle has made a total of five appearances for the first team.
Michelle joined Barclays Women’s Championship team Watford FC on a dual-registration in September 2023, scoring six goals and gaining valuable first-team experience along the way. She also won two Championship Player of the Week awards and one Championship Player of the Month award during her time with Watford.
About signing her professional deal, Agyemang said: “Arsenal Football Club is like family to me, so signing a professional contract here is just incredible, it really is what dreams are made of. I’m really grateful for the opportunity and I can’t wait to continue playing for the Arsenal.”
Academy Manager James Honeyman said: “We are delighted with how Michelle has progressed and are so proud of her journey to get to this moment. Michelle has been a key part of our academy set-up over several years and we’re all looking forward to seeing what she achieves in the professional game.
Director of Women’s Football Clare Wheatley added: “We’re thrilled that Michelle has put pen to paper on professional terms with us. Michelle has shown great goalscoring and playmaking ability at academy level and with hard work and dedication, we believe she has all the potential to apply this in the professional game.”
Michelle is Arsenal’s up and coming forward and there are big hopes that, in the near future, she will be able to compete for a place in the starting XI against the likes of Alessia Russo and Stina Blackstenius, if she carries on developing well.
Now, a decision needs to be made whether to send her on loan next season, to carry on getting game time, or keep her with the squad while giving her a few minutes as a sub in some games.
As the season has now finished for Watford and Arsenal are allowed to register an extra player due to Amanda Ilestedt’s pregnancy, The Gunners can therefore add Michelle to the squad for the two remaining games against City away and Brighton at home.