Arsenal Women sign Malin Gut

Arsenal Women have today announced the signing of Swiss midfielder Malin Gut. Gut, who turns 20 on the first of August (but until then is 19, because that’s how it works) joins from Grasshopper Club Zürich.

Gut has played eight times for the Switzerland national team, where she has often played alongside Lia Wälti, while also deputizing for Arsenal’s first choice defensive midfielder. Speaking to Arsenal.com, Gut hailed the influence of Wälti in joining the club, saying “I talked to Lia a lot and she helped to convince me to join Arsenal.”

Indeed, the link with Wälti is likely what put Gut on Arsenal’s radar. Manager Joe Montemurro said he first noticed Gut “a year ago” playing for the national team: “[She] is very, very mature for her age. She’s someone that I think is really going to flourish in our environment around the players that she’s going to be around. She’s a very exciting prospect for the club.”

Gut should provide genuine depth for Wälti, which Arsenal didn’t have last season. Instead of taking Leah Williamson away from the defence, or putting Jill Roord into an unfamiliar position, Gut is a central midfielder who is of a more defensive bent, saying, “I mostly play in central midfield and I’ve played a few games as a central defender as well...I can keep the game calm and make good passes, that’s what all my game is about.”