‘One of the best in the world’ – Chelsea Women’s duo hail record signing of Girma | OneFootball

Chelsea forward Aggie Beever-Jones hailed the signing of “one of the best defenders in the world” in Naomi Girma after her side’s victory over Arsenal.

The champions, who are going for a sixth consecutive title, now sit seven points clear of Manchester United in second, while Arsenal dropped to fourth after defeat.

Ahead of kick-off in the London derby, the Blues unveiled their newest signing Girma, a record signing in women’s football at £900,000, in front of a packed Stamford Bridge, and her teammates are already excited about her arrival.

Beever-Jones said: “At Chelsea we need the best players, and I think Naomi’s one of the one of the world’s best defenders at the moment. We’re really really happy to have her and welcome her into the team.

“She’s a young defender but I think she’s shown in an American shirt what she can do. It will be good for me to have a few battles against her in training and be against one of the world’s best defenders.

“I’m really delighted, she’s a lovely person as well, so it will be a nice addition to the team.”

German midfielder Sjoeke Nusken added: “It’s amazing to have her here now. I’m looking forward to playing with her and we are very happy that she’s here.”

Bompastor brought on forward Beever-Jones alongside Guro Reiten in the 77th minute, with the latter scoring the penalty that secured the 1-0 victory.

Lauren James, who has been out with a calf injury, made her first league appearance since October, when she came on in the second half, and created the chance that led to the penalty.

“It was nerve-wracking at times,” Beever-Jones added. “Sonia actually said that one of us [Guro or I] were going to score, so I think the gaffer knows what she’s on about.

“She said be confident and obviously it shows that she’s got trust in us to bring us on in a game like that, at that state in the game.

“Credit to the girls who came on – LJ [Lauren James] winning the penalty and Guro being able to put it away so we’re delighted.

“It’s always nice to have LJ back. I think it’s been tough for her the last few months and I think she’s been really wanting to get back into the derby. I was super happy for her to win a penalty, for her confidence to bring back into the next few games.”

Speaking following the match, Bompastor said she would be giving her team two days off for securing the crucial victory, but remained adamant that there is still more work to do, a sentiment echoed by Nusken.

“It’’s unbelievable, it’s so good,” she continued. “I think it’s a very big step we did today and we’re happy about it, but we have to keep going on and focus on the next games. We are not finished yet.

“Yeah, it was a good atmosphere in the dressing room – we will celebrate a little bit and yeah, maybe tonight we’re going out.”