We hope you haven’t missed that we also are on Youtube to show off our platform and what it can do for you. In PlaymakerTV that you can access on our Youtube Channel you will find content where our senior data analyst, Jesper Haglöf and women’s football writer and analyst, Mia Eriksson speak about the women’s game using data from PlaymakerAI’s platform.

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Episode 17

In this last episode Mia and Jesper spoke about players, who’s contracts are neding this summer, which can give them the possibility to leave their current clubs for free. With what we here at Playmaker call players’ cards, Mia and Jesper talked about some players that are rumoured to either leave for new adventures or extend their contracts to stay where they are today.

Here are a few of the players’s cards.

Magdalena Eriksson

Sweden national team player and Chelsea FC captain, Magdalena Eriksson, has announced that she will leave the English multiple champions after this season. She has been with the club for six years and she has been the captain since 2019. Eriksson is a left footed central defender that can also serve as a left fullback. During her time in Chelsea she has played a vital role in Emma Hayes’ team where her ball playing abilities have come into good use.

She is expected to join FC Bayern München in the Frauen Bundesliga, where her qualities as a ball progressor both through carrying and passing will add to the German club. Eriksson is also good at crossing and at switching play but as a defender, also skilled when it comes to intercepting the ball.

She is classified as “The Leader” among our avatars to describe a player role and that will most certainly add to Bayern’s way of establishing themselves as consistent winners domestically while they compete for glory in Europe.

Pernille Harder

Denmark’s most goalscorer and national team captain, Pernille Harder, is also expected to follow Magdalena Eriksson from Chelsea to join FC Bayern München.

The Dane has been in Chelsea the last three seasons and probably hasn't been able to show the absolute best version of herself if we are being honest, due to several factors. Harder joined Chelsea from Vfl Wolfsburg where she had a very free role, roaming in the central part of the pitch for most of the time. In Chelsea she has not been as free and her heat maps indicate that she has been “pushed” slightly out on the wings, this season as we can see out to the left.

Harder has been injured for most part of the season and will only have played, roughly around 550-600 minutes, when the season ends.

Bayern will be pleased to have secured Harder as their “Attacking Star” with incredible finishing skills such as her abilities to carry the ball and link play in between the lines to lead the attacking line.

Catarina Macario

Expected to replace Pernille Harder in Chelsea FC we have a national team player from the US, born in Brazil. Catarina Macario is expected to leave multiple French champions and Champions League winners, Lyon.

The offensive playmaker hasn’t been able to play at all this current season so this player card carries data from the 2021/22 season. Her heat maps look like Hader’s did in Wolfsburg and Macario sure has been a big miss for Lyon this season. She describes herself as a hybrid between a number 10 and a number 9 and will give Chelsea a great option to variate their attacking play.

What is interesting with Macario apart from her skillset in open play is also her quality to contribute with chances from set pieces.

Ashley Lawrence

To compliment Chelsea’s backline with something the English club might have been missing the last few seasons, could be Canadian national team player and fullback Ashley Lawrence from Paris Saint-Germain.

This is a world class fullback with a skillset that will compliment the Blues central defenders perfectly. Good in both attacking and defending, this is one of the most attractive fullbacks on the market right now that will give the Chelsea head coach Emma Hayes good options in how she wants to build her team ahead of a new season.

Lawrence is good in duels and will probably master the 1 v 1 play in the Women’s Super League really well combined with her playmaking skills to create chances.

Ona Batlle

Manchester United looks to be forced to find a replacement to one of both their best players this season but also one of the Women’s Super League’s absolute best - Spanish international Ona Batlle looks to be close to joining FC Barcelona.

Battle has been a key player for United in their successful season in the English league where she has added tremendously to the Red’s attacking with her role as the Progressor.

This fullback has a profile that will fit perfectly into Barcelona’s style of play and from her time in England she will probably show the other players in Liga F that she is not only good in creating chances and progressing the ball up the pitch but also in the defensive part of the game with her interception skills.

Summary

During the episode that we livestreamed on our Youtube Channel we also talked about three more Swedish national team players that could either stay or leave their current clubs - Amanda Ilestedt (PSG), Filippa Angeldahl (Manchester City), Rebecka Blomqvist (Wolfsburg) and then a non-Swedish player; Tabitha Chawinga, a Nigerian player that has played for Inter Milan in Italy this season. Jesper chose to show her player card because she has one of the most interesting stats from this seaosn across Europe.

Jesper also showed Playmaker’s scouting tool more closely that clubs, scouts and agents etc can use if they want to look at similar players when they scout to add someone in a team or to find a replacement.

Make sure you take a look at Episode 17 - Free Agents in Europe

PlaymakerTV - Free Agents in Europe