Japanese attacking midfielder Mao Itamura has signed for Liverpool Women from Feyenoord. She is a promising young talent who was named Women’s Eredivisie Player of the Season for 2025–26. An impressive dribbler, she scored six goals and provided eight assists for the Dutch club, playing a significant role in their qualification for the UEFA Women’s Europa Cup, while also winning the Women’s Asian Cup this year with Japan’s Under-20s.

Her acquisition by Liverpool fits well with the club’s tactical direction. It brings more of what head coach Gareth Taylor needs as he constructs a possession-based, attacking team. It is the kind of machine he has had plenty of experience creating, having built a similar side at Manchester City Women in recent years.

‘Machine’ is an important word here because critics have said his City team was robotic and too rigid in its tactics. Taylor never won the WSL with his City team, though a strong case could be made that he came close and only missed out on the prize because of player injuries.

In the end, according to pundits and even a number of City players, it was the freedom brought by new Manchester City Women manager Andrée Jeglertz, in contrast to Taylor’s so-called rigidity, that helped the team win the WSL and FA Cup trophies last season.

Taylor will have a point to prove with his new side at Liverpool. So, this should be fun to follow and see what happens as he builds his team.

Last season, charged with introducing the players to a whole new way of playing, he took the helm of a Liverpool side that was weakened due to key departures, one of which was star forward Olivia Smith, who left for Arsenal in a £1 million ($1.3m) world-record deal.

The campaign was always going to be an uphill battle. They finished one place above the bottom of the table but, crucially, avoided relegation. Taylor also took them to the semifinals of the FA Cup, where they lost to Brighton, a very good side that came back from a 2–0 deficit to beat them 3–2 in that game.

The cup run was a morale-booster and perhaps a reminder that with the right players and resources, Taylor could do some damage with his new team in the future. He would need a reset in the summer transfer window.

That reset is underway, and Itamura is the latest arrival among a number of new acquisitions that include ball-playing footballers such as English defender Mari Ward, Slovenian defender Sara Agrež and goalkeeper Khiara Keating, who left Manchester City and has reunited with her former head coach.

With a year of teething pains behind him and with new players who have the very particular skills to play the game his way, what will Gareth Taylor be able to accomplish this season?

Jamaican international Natasha Thomas has joined Wrexham AFC Women. The 30-year-old forward is an Ipswich Town icon who left the English club at the end of the 2025/26 season as their all-time top goalscorer, netting 175 goals and making a record 260 appearances over an 11-year spell.

But Welsh club Wrexham will be looking at more than just her impressive numbers to help them achieve their ambitions.

They ended the 2025/26 season as Welsh champions, winning the Genero Adran Premier, the highest tier of women’s football in the country, for the first time in their history. They also secured the Bute Energy Welsh Cup.

Winning the league title qualified Wrexham for the UEFA Women’s Champions League, where they will make their debut against Armenian side FC Pyunik Yerevan on July 22 in the first qualifying round mini-tournament.

It is in this tournament that they will be counting on Thomas’ experience as a proven winner. She originally joined Ipswich Town when they were in the fourth tier of English women’s football, eventually helping them achieve two promotions to reach the Women’s Super League 2.

The Jamaican was also the first Ipswich Town player to compete at the international level, making her debut for Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz in October 2024. She has since scored three goals for the Caribbean nation.

Wrexham head coach Jenny Sugarman highlighted how Thomas fits into the club’s plans.

“I’m delighted to be able to bring a player of Tash’s experience and quality to Wrexham, and I’m excited to see how she will help elevate this team further,” she said. “Tash has shown both with Ipswich and Jamaica her ability to link play, as well as create and score goals. Her qualities will help us with our domestic and European ambitions.”

“We look forward to integrating Tash into the squad over the next few weeks and getting her up to speed with her teammates ahead of our historic first-ever European game later this month,” Sugarman continued.

Wrexham AFC Women is a team on the rise, much like the men’s side, which has become famous for its ongoing football fairytale. Over the last few years, the men’s team transformed from a struggling non-league side into a Hollywood-backed media phenomenon, rapidly climbing the football pyramid to the EFL Championship where they play today.

The women’s side enjoyed their own success following the takeover by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2021. That year, the team joined the new Genero Adran North (Tier 2) for its inaugural season, finishing as runners-up. In the 2022/23 season, they won promotion to the top-tier Genero Adran Premier, where they debuted as the league’s first-ever semi-professional side.

Two years later, the club won its first top-flight Adran Premier title in April 2026, officially booking a spot in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

The career of Natasha Thomas in some ways mirrors the Wrexham AFC journey. Like Wrexham, her football origins began at the lower levels of the football pyramid, where she played grassroots football for clubs like Waveney and Lowestoft Town before joining Ipswich Town at the age of 19. There, she enjoyed her own climb up the football ladder from the fourth to the second tier, followed by a leap to international football when she debuted for Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz.

A contract between Thomas and Wrexham AFC Women feels like a fitting convergence of similar trajectories.

The forward expressed her enthusiasm for the move.

“I’m really excited to be here,” Thomas said. “I always wanted the next club to be the right one for me, but also to know I’m the right person for the club as well. I had previously looked at Wrexham, and seeing the team win two trophies last season was a big thing for me. I always like to win silverware, and I think that I can do that here with the club.”

The Jamaican is confident that her veteran presence can elevate the side.

“I am 30 years old, so I can bring an abundance of experience to this team,” she affirmed. “I have that international experience as well. I am a fast player who likes to score goals, and I hope to score many at Wrexham.”

“The community is a huge thing for me, as well as the fans,” Thomas added. “I always look to the fans when I’m playing football. For me, you can see that warmth and togetherness here at Wrexham, and hopefully I can get them on board, and they will be cheering me on as well.”

Years of potential, trophies just out of reach, and recent managerial shuffles—Manchester City Women continue to face familiar challenges. They say the more things change, the more they stay the same. For Manchester City Women, the cliché hits close to home.

After seasons of promise under former head coach Gareth Taylor, but with no Women’s Super League (WSL) title to show for it, each campaign felt like history repeating itself. Five years yielded only one FA Cup and a single League Cup, despite a steady influx of exciting new talent.

The most recent season began with promise, rousing fans hungry for success. However, by mid-campaign City was rapidly falling out of title contention, as eventual winners Chelsea maintained their momentum, and both Arsenal and Manchester United surged ahead.

Managerial shake-up fails

Alarmed at the sudden turn in fortune, the club removed Taylor swiftly—some would say ruthlessly. His squad had reached the League Cup final, the FA Cup semi-final and the Champions League knockout stage, and were still competing on all fronts, but that earned him no mercy.

Fans who had called for Taylor’s head welcomed the return of Nick Cushing—the coach who once delivered a WSL title, an FA Cup, and three League Cups, though with a squad that at the time was arguably levels above the competition.

Social media buzzed with words like “bold” and “free” to describe how Cushing would unshackle the team. Still, disappointment came quickly, as City crashed out of all three Cup competitions within a month.

The managerial switch solved nothing. Injuries to key players that some dismissed as Taylor’s excuse soon proved that the squad’s lack of depth was real as Cushing ended the season empty-handed—a signal that City’s attempts at change were falling short.

“Taylor out, Cushing in” proved to be an inadequate solution to challenges that are bigger than any one coach at the club.

The squad depth problem

The truth is that the squad’s lack of depth is a problem well beyond the pay grade of coaches who have little influence over Manchester City Women’s recruitment—a policy that prioritises developing talent rather than buying seasoned, world-class players for every position.

City brought in new talent each year to cover departures and bolster the squad. However, dividing those signings between experienced players and still-developing prospects meant the reinforcements were never enough to keep pace with Chelsea, and to a lesser degree Arsenal.

On one side of the spectrum are established stars such as Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, Kerolin, Yui Hasegawa, Vivianne Miedema, and England internationals Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood. On the other are rising prospects like Aoba Fujino, Gracie Prior, Lily Murphy and new acquisitions Iman Beney and Jade Rose.

Together, with other players, they form a squad rich in talent, but at different stages of development—making it difficult to find the consistency to challenge for trophies.

Despite constantly refreshing the squad, it was still left exposed by the same lack of depth, a problem only magnified by injuries in recent years.

Locked into the City way

For those who haven’t followed the evolution of the City Football Group (CFG) over the past 15 years, it might be a rude awakening to also realise that their coaches have less room than most to shape playing style and tactics.

There are critics who felt that Taylor’s style was too slow in the build-up, that the defensive line was too high, that playing out from the back was too risky, and that attacks could be faster and more direct. Welcome, then, to the world of possession-based, positional play, Guardiola-style football—the same style the Manchester City men play, facing similar criticisms these days, and the same approach adopted across CFG clubs worldwide.

It’s important to understand that although Taylor is an enthusiastic advocate of the City style, he, Cushing, and any Manchester City Women coach cannot stray far from it. The Manchester City way is more than just a style of play—it is the club’s identity and is non-negotiable.

No wonder then that despite the managerial coup d'état of replacing Taylor with Cushing, very little shifted. That well-worn cliché about the more things change rang true once again.

So, Manchester City Women’s top brass decided to change things some more by signing their third head coach of 2025.

Is Andrée Jeglertz a difference maker?

Danish Coach Andrée Jeglertz—winner of the UEFA Women’s Cup with Umeå in 2004— was appointed as the new head coach, ending speculation that Cushing may stay on permanently. One of the first things Jeglertz did in his first interview with the club, following his announcement as manager, was to stress that the club’s playing philosophy aligns with his.

No surprises there.

“I think one of my key things [is] to come in and not try to change the world,” the head coach said. “It’s about continuing the job that has been done, and [taking] it to the next level.”

Well, Nick Cushing recently tried that, too.

Questioning Manchester City’s pursuit of coaches who rigidly adhere to its footballing philosophy may sound cynical. Cynical? Perhaps—and not without reason. CFG can be far too rigid in its style of play despite the constant evolution of football.

Still, this is not a call to abandon the philosophy. The CFG way represents beautiful and positive football, so long as it adapts to challenges and changing circumstances. After all, it has delivered untold success to the men’s team and trophies across several clubs within the CFG network.

Ironically, Pep Guardiola—the widely recognised master of this philosophy—is often less dogmatic than many of his disciples. These days, he is openly admitting to pushing his football toward a faster, more direct, transitional approach, after being undone by teams that play that way. He isn’t abandoning the style that has delivered him so many trophies; he’s tweaking it. And if you’ve followed Guardiola over the years, you’ll know he has always embraced adaptation.

Taylor and Cushing, on the other hand, as well as many other Guardiola disciples, have not shown Pep’s level of variation within their style of play.

Jeglertz, however, struck a more promising note in his interview even as he confirmed that he intends to operate within the framework of City’s style.

“We need to be better in finding ways of doing [things] in different ways, so we’re not just attacking in one way,” he said. The Dane also added: “In talking about the defending, there are things…that we can improve.”

Of course, every new coach talks about improvements. The proof will come after the opening whistle.

Small tweaks and great expectations

The irony, as fans wait expectantly for better outcomes, is that while Manchester City Women’s coaches are burdened with the responsibility for problems rooted in the club’s fixed identity—its playing style and recruitment strategy—they are still expected to deliver change. Yet they must do so in an environment that permits only small variations, not radical shifts. It is a difficult task because not every coach is a genius like Guardiola, with access to the world’s best players.

So, Manchester City Women are appointing new coaches with similar ideas as the ones before, hoping to do new and different things. And they continue to sign impressive players, but never quite enough to fix their squad-depth problem and consistently challenge the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal.

Will this season be another Groundhog Day, proving once again that the more things change, the more they stay the same? Or does the new head coach have enough tweaks up his sleeve to be truly different?

Over to you, Andrée Jeglertz.

Subscribe now