Ellen White Fourth Player To Leave

Remember just yesterday when I said that it was possible no other players could be leaving? That we had successfully weathered the storm? Well, long story short I messed up and probably jinxed it. Ellen White is leaving the Arsenal, and has signed a three year contract with Notts County. Oops.

Now the loss of Kim Little hurt, the loss of Steph Houghton was pretty darn devastating, and the loss of Gemma Davison was outright unfortunate. The loss of Ellen White? Well...let's say its potentially . Arsenal Ladies is going to be relying a LOT on a 20 year old (Danielle Carter), a nearing retirement Queen that's coming back from a pretty long injury stint (Kelly Smith), and an elder stateswoman to be scoring goals next season (Rachel Yankey).

Don't get me wrong. Carter, Smith, and Yankey are quality players. Yankey and Smith have been competing at the top level of women's soccer for years, and Carter is up and coming with a lot of potential. But losing Ellen White isn't really something you can downplay. While at Arsenal, White was a goal machine that helped the club win the league and the women's FA Cup twice, and the FA WSL Continental Cup three times. It's not really a hole that our newest signing can fill.

At Notts County, White will be reunited with manager Rick Passmoor. Passmoor was the manager of Leeds Carnegie (before the FA WSL days) at the time While was a player there. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that definitely played a part in the move.

Honestly, at this point I'm not really sure where Arsenal goes from here. They have needs at almost every position on the field. You'd have to think that Arsenal has some pull in the international market, but with leagues expanding the market for top players is getting pretty tight. All seems quiet on the transfer front, but, as this move goes to show, things can change very rapidly.