Introducing the new faces to CFCW

There have been seven new signings made this summer, five of which will be with Chelsea for the upcoming campaign, with youngsters Louna Ribadeira and Veerle Buurman returning to Paris FC and PSV on loan, respectively.

Ahead of our WSL opener against Aston Villa at Kingsmeadow on Friday evening, let’s take a look at the new signings who are set to line up in blue during the 2024/25 campaign and how they have performed in pre-season…

Spanish midfielder Bartel kicked off our summer transfer window when she joined the Blues on a deal until the summer of 2027 from Barcelona.

The 20-year-old started her career with Espanyol’s youth teams, before earning a move to the Catalan club in 2019. She would go on to enjoy domestic league and cup triumphs, and made her senior debut for Barcelona in the Champions League during the 2023/24 campaign.

Arriving at the Blues this summer, Bartel was put to work during for the first week of pre-season at Cobham before she joined up with the Spain U-20s squad ahead of the World Cup in Colombia.

After reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament, Bartel will now return to London where she will be hoping to soon make her Chelsea debut.

The England international signed a two-year contract with the Blues after joining from Spanish giants Barcelona with a glittering CV, which includes five Champions League titles.

Arriving with an illustrious collection of winner’s medals from three countries, Bronze brings invaluable experience to the squad having played in Spain, France with Lyon and at a number of clubs in England.

At Chelsea, the wing-back reunites with two familiar faces from Lyon: new head coach Sonia Bompastor and assistant Camille Abily, not to mention a host of England team-mates. Bompastor headed up the club’s academy during Bronze’s time in France, while Abily is a former teammate.

This pre-season, Bompastor has utilised Bronze in each of our three matches – NJ/NY Gotham, Arsenal and Feyenoord – all of which ended in victories.

She was named in the starting XI in all three contests, and in the emphatic 9-0 win over Feyenoord at Kingsmeadow, Bronze was the only outfield player to feature for 90 minutes.

Arriving from Paris Saint-Germain, Baltimore has enjoyed an impressive start to life in London during pre-season.

The 24-year-old French forward was our second arrival this summer, signing a four-year deal after spending eight years with PSG, where she won a league title and three domestic cups.

Baltimore has featured in each of her three pre-season wins, and netted her first goal for the club with the match-winner in our 1-0 victory over Arsenal in Washington DC.

She followed that goal up by making her first start for the Blues on home turf when we hosted Feyenoord. And the forward picked up where she left off in the States, as Baltimore opened the scoring in the fourth minute to kick-off our rout of the Dutch side.

Like Baltimore, Jean-Francois joined Chelsea from PSG. The 23-year-old midfielder penned a three-year contract, with the option of an extra year.

Jean-Francois’ career started with her local club in French Guyana, before moving to the mainland of France where she signed her first professional contract with Paris FC at 18 years old.

A move to PSG beckoned in 2022 and she spent two seasons at the club, winning the Coupe de France. Unfortunately, the majority of Jean-Francois’ final season in Paris was disrupted by an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

Due to that injury, Jean-Francois is yet to play in front of the Blues fans with both the player and head coach Bompastor having previously explained that it is important to manage her minutes after coming back from such a serious injury.

Although she did not feature in our matches, the midfielder was part of our pre-season tour in the USA.

Chelsea added Maelys Mpome to the squad in September, with the 21-year-old French defender joining from Montpellier.

Most often deployed in the centre of defence, Mpome featured for her former club regularly during the past three seasons, having moved to Montpellier from VGA Saint-Maur in 2020. On the international stage, she has been capped by France from U-16s to U-23s level.

Two days after signing for the Blues, Mpome made her first appearance for the club when she came on for the final 15 minutes in our 9-0 win over Feyenoord.

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