When it was revealed that Leah Williamson would miss the start of the new Women's Super League season, most assumed Lotte Wubben-Moy or Laia Codina would take her place in the heart of Arsenal's defence. Wubben-Moy came into the campaign fresh off the back of a new contract and a role in England's Euro 2025 triumph, while Codina's status as a key starter in Spain's World Cup win in 2023 tells you the level she can reach. And yet, both have been usurped by 18-year-old Katie Reid.
The talented teen has been on the brink of a first-team breakthrough for a couple of years now, catching the eye in last summer's pre-season tour of the United States, just weeks after Williamson had waxed lyrical about her as a speaker at . "She's exceptional," the England captain said. "She will take my shirt one day."
In the first two weeks of the new season, that's exactly what Reid has done, replacing Williamson in the Arsenal XI for wins over London City Lionesses and West Ham in a perfect start to the WSL campaign for the Gunners.
She might not have the experience of Wubben-Moy and Codina but the Arsenal academy product is more than justifying her selection and showing just why head coach Renee Slegers has given her such a big opportunity.
Getty ImagesOvercoming adversity
It really didn't start well for Reid, either. With just 15 minutes on clock on the opening weekend, it was her rather naive challenge on Kosovare Asllani that brought the Swede down in the box and paved the way for the newly-promoted London City Lionesses to take a shock lead at the Emirates Stadium.
This was only Reid's second start in the WSL and her first at this iconic venue, where more than 38,000 fans turned out to watch their team in action for the first time since their Champions League triumph over Barcelona back in May. It was always going to test her nerve; now, it was about to test her resilience.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesResilience aplenty
And Reid passed that test with flying colours, recovering from the early lapse to enjoy an extremely impressive performance. Before the foul on Asllani, she looked settled, unperturbed by the occasion. Once that incident occurred, she seemed to compartmentalise it and just continue doing what she was doing before.
The teenager won nine of her 11 ground duels in what was the most eye-catching aspect of her performance, as she was dribbled past just once and didn't commit another foul after the penalty. She also won two of her four aerial duels, was successful in both of her attempted dribbles and had a pass accuracy of 84 per cent, completing 32 of 38.
"Credit to Katie, and the rest of the team, after that penalty," Slegers said afterwards. "She just kept on playing and came back. She showed strength."
Getty ImagesBuilding on a strong start
Reid's reward was that she kept her place last week, when the Gunners travelled to West Ham. There, she was even more impressive, standing out as one of her team's best performers in a 5-1 win. This time, it was her ability on the ball that shone, helping Arsenal to break lines and put serious pressure on the Hammers as they recovered from 1-0 down to secure a comfortable victory.
"Katie Reid has done really well tonight," Emma Byrne, the Gunners' former goalkeeper, said on . "She offers to receive all the time, no matter where she is and how much pressure she is under, which is the sign of a really confident player. She is up there for the most progressive passes in the game. That's what you want to see from your centre-backs, especially in such a ball-playing team like Arsenal."
Getty ImagesThe Arsenal way
That quality on the ball is one of the big reasons why Williamson was so glowing in her praise of Reid last summer, as she doubled down on her rave reviews of the teenager in an interview with . "Katie Reid is one of the best young kids I have seen come through," she said. "She is wonderful technically and she is Arsenal."
It's an aspect Reid has developed plenty since joining the club, a switch which resulted in her playing girls' football for the first time, having spent her childhood playing in boys' teams. "It was interesting because I’d been used to a very quick, very physical game, but with the girls, their tactical understanding was better, their decision-making was better and their manipulation of the ball was better too, so I got to develop that side of my game," she explained last year, in one of Arsenal's matchday programmes. The impact Arsenal has had on her in that sense is certainly showing.