Aston Villa Women face the biggest attacking replacement job of any established WSL club after fresh transfer data revealed the scale of the output lost from Natalia Arroyo’s squad this summer.
Players who left Villa contributed 17 goals and assists in the WSL last season, accounting for 36.2 per cent of the club’s total attacking output.
According to analysis published by The Guardian, that is the highest proportion lost by any club that competed in the WSL during 2025/26.
Aston Villa Women lose 36.2% of attacking output
The figure puts Villa’s extensive summer rebuild into sharper perspective ahead of Saturday’s opening game against Chelsea.
Kirsty Hanson accounts for a significant part of the loss.
The Scotland international joined Tottenham permanently in June after scoring 12 WSL goals last season, having featured in every league match for Villa. Aston Villa confirmed those numbers when announcing her departure.
But Hanson is only part of the issue.
The Guardian calculates that all departing Villa players combined were responsible for 17 goal contributions, or more than one-third of everything the team produced in the league last season.
Manchester City also lost a major attacking contributor in Kerolin, but The Guardian argues the defending champions are better equipped to absorb that departure.
Villa have a considerably bigger reconstruction ahead of them.
That is why our earlier look at Aston Villa Women’s summer rebuild was about more than simply counting new arrivals.
Arroyo needs those players to replace production.
Natalia Arroyo’s new-look Villa face an immediate test
Villa have strengthened across the squad, including the late addition of Nigeria international Rofiat Imuran from London City Lionesses.
But the opening weekend provides an unforgiving test of whether the new attack can begin compensating for what has gone.
Chelsea await at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with our Chelsea Women vs Aston Villa Women TV guide covering the broadcast information and kick-off time.
Villa may also be without Rachel Maltby because of her involvement with England at the Under-20 World Cup, placing another early demand on Arroyo’s squad depth.
The Guardian’s wider analysis found that WSL clubs generally prioritised greater squad stability this summer.
Villa are one of the exceptions where the attacking numbers underline the scale of change.
The challenge is therefore straightforward.
New signings do not merely have to improve the squad.
They have to replace 36.2 per cent of last season’s goals and assists before Villa can even begin talking about taking another step forward.
Saturday provides the first indication of whether that process has worked.