On January 3, 2025, midfielder Laila Harbert signed her first skilled contract.
The choice to signal with England Ladies’s Tremendous League facet Arsenal FC was a “no-brainer.” After rising up within the membership’s academy, the chance to make her transition to the professionals in the identical neighborhood she first chased her skilled aspirations felt proper.
“It’s such a proud second for me and my household to have the ability to put pen to paper on knowledgeable contract at a membership that appears like house,” Harbert stated. “I joined Arsenal’s academy at such a younger age, so to have the ability to make investments my future in a spot that I’ve grown up in is a particular feeling.”
After consecutive mortgage spells within the Ladies’s Championship (Barclays Ladies’s Tremendous League 2) with Watford and Southampton, respectively, the England youth worldwide had to decide on her subsequent step. Late final summer time, the decision the 18 yr previous had been ready for lastly arrived. The NWSL’s Portland Thorns had been within the midfielder and made it a precedence to carry her to the Rose Metropolis on mortgage on the finish of August.
For Harbert, the transfer marks a major bounce in competitors, however one that may jumpstart her skilled profession.
“The chance to characterize a membership with such historical past — one which has been house to legends of the sport — made coming to Portland extremely thrilling,” Harbert stated. “It’s additionally my first expertise enjoying abroad, which I do know will assist me develop each as a participant and as an individual.”
In Portland, Oregon, Harbert is now over 5,000 miles away from the suburbs of Southeast London the place she grew up. Fortunately, the teenager had her dad and mom when she arrived within the Pacific Northwest to assist with settling in.
“It’s an extended methods from house,” Harbert stated. “Clearly, settling in may be fairly daunting at 18 coming the world over. It’s one thing that I believed could be good for my growth, by way of not only a participant, however as an individual as nicely.”
Because it’s structured Harbert’s mortgage spell runs by means of the 2025 season. It’s a stint that appears quick within the second, however the midfielder has a bevvy of targets she is striving towards every single day.
“I hope to study lots about myself, in addition to from the gamers and workers round me,” Harbert stated. “One among my targets is to return to England having developed bodily, particularly given the transitional nature of the league. I additionally consider that taking this step will assist me construct confidence — pushing myself to compete and tackle challenges I won’t have confronted in any other case.”
Along with a chance in a completely new nation and league, Harbert famous her pleasure to play amongst a world-class midfield with Sam Coffey, Jessie Fleming, Olivia Moultrie and Hina Sugita (earlier than the commerce).
One participant who had made a concerted effort to mentor the 18-year previous midfielder is Moultrie, who understands the pressures thrust upon teenageagers in one of the crucial aggressive girls’s soccer leagues on this planet. Now one of many league’s rising stars with caps with the USWNT below her belt, it wasn’t way back that Moultrie, at 15 years previous, turned the youngest participant to ever seem in an NWSL match.
“I wish to be that individual I by no means had,” Moultrie stated. “(Harbert) has been superior. I like feeling just like the older sister.”
Harbert’s first NWSL street journey with the Thorns took her to the Windy Metropolis, the place she suited up within the golf equipment 1-1 draw in opposition to the Chicago Stars on September 14 at SeatGeek Stadium. Slightly below two weeks later, she made her Thorns debut in opposition to NJ/NY Gotham FC, checking into the match within the 61st minute.
“It was an ideal feeling to lastly step on the pitch for the Thorns,” Harbert stated. “It was a tricky recreation to return into, however I’m grateful for the minutes and hope to construct on them transferring ahead.”
Laila Harbert has now earned three appearances for the Portland Thorns and searching ahead to her first playoffs with the group.
Now simply over a month into her life in the USA, Harbert continues to enhance every day.
”You see the standard that Arsenal have seen in her and have developed together with her – that was pleasing,” Thorns head coach Rob Gale stated. “Hopefully we proceed to develop that. We could very nicely want her within the subsequent weeks.”
Whether or not she returns to England following the conclusion of the 2025 season or stays a little bit longer, the transfer has already proved to be a once-in-a-lifetime alternative for the budding English expertise.
