{"id":544502,"date":"2026-04-22T11:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/544502\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T11:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:13:12","slug":"spain-defender-ona-batlle-close-to-joining-arsenal-from-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/544502\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain defender Ona Batlle close to joining Arsenal from Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain defender Ona Batlle is close to agreeing a move to Arsenal as a free agent in the summer.<\/p>\n

Batlle’s deal at Barcelona expires at the end of the season, and BBC Sport reported in January<\/a> she had held advanced discussions with Arsenal over a pre-contract agreement.<\/p>\n

Arsenal are increasingly confident they are set for a successful summer, with deals for Batlle and other key targets to be completed early.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Spaniard has been a priority target for the Gunners, with Republic of Ireland full-back Katie McCabe set to exit.<\/p>\n

England midfielder Georgia Stanway, 27, is also likely to join Arsenal<\/a> when her Bayern Munich contract expires at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Stanway, who helped England win back-to-back European Championships, moved to Bayern from Manchester City in 2022 and has won three Bundesliga titles.<\/p>\n

There have also been reports, external<\/a> that Switzerland midfielder Geraldine Reuteler is set to join Arsenal from Frankfurt, as well as potential further additions.<\/p>\n

Batlle’s arrival would be one of the biggest moves in recent years as Arsenal have revamped their approach to recruitment, targeting top players early.<\/p>\n

Following the appointment of ex-England striker Jodie Taylor as Arsenal Women’s first technical director in January, the club aim to plan ahead to the next three transfer windows and ensure a constant evolution.<\/p>\n

Batlle spent three seasons at Manchester United between 2020 and 2023 and was part of the Spain squad that won the 2023 World Cup.<\/p>\n

She also played a key role as Spain reached the Euro 2025 final – where they lost to England on penalties – and helped Barca claim the Women’s Champions League in 2024.<\/p>\n

Batlle is widely regarded as one of the best defenders in the world and it is understood she is keen for a return to the Women’s Super League.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Arsenal announced a two-year contract extension for striker Stina Blackstenius<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain defender Ona Batlle is close to agreeing a move to Arsenal as a free agent in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-544502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}