The Women’s Super League signs off on Saturday with the end of an era: the final round of a 12-team competition before it expands to 14. It also closes with three of the league’s defining forwards heading for the exit door, after Sam Kerr’s Chelsea departure was confirmed on Thursday, Beth Mead was announced to be leaving Arsenal on Monday and Khadija "Bunny" Shaw decided to move on last week.
Between them, Kerr, Mead and Shaw have scored 313 goals for their clubs, a combined mark that has helped shape the league’s biggest nights and most familiar title races. Kerr leaves Chelsea with five WSL titles, Mead is understood to be close to a move to Manchester City, and Chelsea are the favourites to secure Shaw. The earliest any player moving on a free between WSL sides can sign for a new club is 1 June, which gives the next round of moves a clear starting point even before the summer window fully opens.
The departures sit inside a wider churn at the top of the division. Katie McCabe’s summer exit from Arsenal was confirmed on Friday, while Bethany England is poised for an emotional farewell from Tottenham after three-and-a-half years and 32 league goals for the club. Kirsty Hanson is second on the WSL scoring charts this season, and several clubs are already planning around familiar names rather than trying to replace them outright. Arsenal still have Alessia Russo, Stina Blackstenius and Michelle Agyemang as No 9 options, while Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City are all losing or expected to lose prominent attacking players.
That market is moving even as the money gets bigger. Women’s transfer fees paid globally in 2025 rose by 83.6% compared with 2024, yet out-of-contract moves remain the most common route for top players in the women’s game. The pull of free transfers is visible again in this run of exits, with clubs waiting to act once June arrives and contracts start to expire. The same pattern is behind the growing interest in Felicia Schröder, 19 years old, whom almost every club in the division is understood to be monitoring after she scored a hat-trick this month in the second leg of the Europa Cup final.
Katrina Gorry’s situation at West Ham shows the same reality from another angle. The 33-year-old is moving on when her contract expires in June after playing in all 22 of West Ham’s WSL matches last season, and her farewell message captured how these exits land beyond the balance sheet: she said she felt at home from the moment she arrived and would leave east London with a bigger family, including the fans, staff and everyone connected to the club. For all the talk of expansion and rising fees, the league is still being shaped by the familiar force of contracts running out and players choosing the next chapter themselves.
