The England winger Katie Robinson is poised to complete a shock move from Aston Villa to Bristol City, the Guardian understands, as the Women’s Super League 2 club make a significant signal of their ambition.
The 23-year-old, who made her England debut in 2022, has – according to sources – completed a medical to return to the club where she started her career before establishing herself at Brighton. Robinson has five caps and was the youngest member of England’s squad at the 2023 World Cup, where they reached the final. Bristol City have fought off competition for her signature.
Robinson has been with Villa since 2024 and spent the first half of this season on loan at Everton, where she made 12 appearances before it was announced on 2 January that she had returned to Villa. Bristol City identified her as a priority target, amid backing from their majority owner, Mercury13.
The investment group, which also owns the Italian side Como Women, bought the women’s arm of Bristol City from the Bristol Sport group in September and pledged to kickstart a “new era”. The move for Robinson is believed to involve a transfer fee significant for a WSL2 side.
City are understood to be close to more signings, having pulled off another major coup in August by acquiring the former Wales captain Sophie Ingle on a free transfer. The Ashton Gate-based team are third in WSL2, occupying the playoff spot, three points off an automatic promotion place at the halfway stage.
For this season only, two sides will go up to the WSL automatically and a third will face a playoff against the team that finish at the bottom of the top tier. Several WSL2 clubs are expected to spend notably during this window in a push to challenge for promotion. On Wednesday, Birmingham finalised the loan signing of the Finland forward Lotta Lindström from London City Lionesses.
There is one WSL2 relegation place, occupied by Ipswich, who are five points adrift of safety and announced on Tuesday that their long-serving manager Joe Sheehan had left his role. The former Ipswich defender David Wright has been placed in interim charge for the remainder of the season. Ipswich are in talks with Sheehan about a new role developing young players.
WSL Football’s latest partnership deal, announced with Mercedes-Benz UK on Wednesday, is understood to mean that the commercial revenue of WSL and WSL2 has tripled since the leagues started being run independently of the Football Association in 2024.
