{"id":482599,"date":"2026-06-04T11:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T11:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/482599\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T11:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T11:27:09","slug":"wheels-were-in-motion-before-arsenal-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/482599\/","title":{"rendered":"Wheels were in motion before Arsenal offer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katie McCabe has said the “wheels were in motion” for her move to Chelsea<\/a> before Arsenal made a late offer to keep her at the club.<\/p>\n

The Dubliner had a long goodbye from the Gunners, who she joined from Shelbourne in 2015, with reports circulating back in early February that the club were willing to let the 30-year-old depart at the end of her contract.<\/p>\n

However McCabe’s form in recent months – particularly as a centre-back in a defensive three – seemingly gave Arsenal food for thought. Having communicated they were willing to let McCabe go, there was a U-turn late in the campaign when they offered her an opportunity to stay.<\/p>\n

By then, Chelsea had made their move.<\/p>\n

“I think, for me, the wheels were in motion,” McCabe said ahead of Ireland’s crunch World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands at SuperValu P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh tomorrow night when asked about Arsenal’s offer.<\/p>\n

“I knew where I was at from that point in time, I knew where my head was at. I was ready to just finish off the last few weeks as an Arsenal player as best I could. A big thank you, obviously, to the fans in Liverpool at Anfield (where McCabe played her final game for Arsenal). That meant an awful lot to me. But, I think for me, the decision was made.”<\/p>\n

When asked how long the switch to Chelsea had been in the pipeline, McCabe replied: “Obviously, it’s no secret that I was coming into last year with my contract. I think from January onwards, there were conversations naturally. Over the course of the last few weeks and months, everything kind of got sorted out, which was really positive.<\/p>\n

“I’m really excited. Everything’s obviously out in the open. I was glad it was announced and I can kind of concentrate now on the games.”<\/p>\n

McCabe once idolised Damien Duff when he was galloping down the wing at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n

She also aired her long-held admiration for Blues boss Sonia Bompastor, an elite manager who operated as a left-winger\/left-back during her playing days with France.<\/p>\n

In April, Bompastor fumed after McCabe escaped punishment<\/a> for pulling the ponytail of Chelsea forward Alyssa Thompson towards the end of Champions League quarter-final second leg. That now appears to be water under the bridge.<\/p>\n

“What I will say is that I’ve got a massive respect for Sonia – the player she was, having played at such a high level, but also the coach she\u2019s become, managing such top players at Lyon and Chelsea, what she\u2019s won as a manager too,” said McCabe.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m really excited to work under and learn from her.<\/p>\n

“Having spoken with Sonia a couple of weeks back, a couple of months back, I understood what she wanted and the project she was trying to create at Chelsea. I wanted to be part of that.”<\/p>\n

As for crestfallen Gunners supporters, McCabe said she understood their frustration.<\/p>\n

“I empathise a lot with the Arsenal fans at the minute because it’s not an easy thing to see, a player that has spent so long at a club going to a rival club. <\/p>\n

“But at the same time I need to put myself first and this was the best case for me. I know I\u2019m 30 now but I still feel I am in a really good place in my career and I feel like I\u2019ve got a lot to give. <\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve got a lot of respect for the club and the fanbase, and my teammates as well. Now, it\u2019s time for something new, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m really excited for.”<\/p>\n

Watch Republic of Ireland v Netherlands in FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying on Friday from 7pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Follow our live blog on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app and listen to commentary on Inside Sport on RT\u00c9 Radio 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katie McCabe has said the “wheels were in motion” for her move to Chelsea before Arsenal made a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-482599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}