Birmingham City Ladies have secured the future of Chloe Peplow after the midfielder signed her first professional contract at the club, despite interest from several other teams.
The 16-year-old played a key part in helping Birmingham with the FA WSL Development League Cup last season; beating Sunderland 4-0 to do so.
Back in 2014, the youngster played every minute for England in their Under 17’s European Championship campaign in Iceland, which has led to many people tipping her to become a full England international.
Despite several FAWSL teams interested in her services, Peplow decided to put pen to paper on a two-year deal with her current club.
Parker full of praise for Peplow
Manager David Parker believes the midfielder signing her first professional contract “continues to demonstrate [Birmingham's] commitment to producing [their] own players,” he told the club's website.
“It has been common knowledge for a long time that Chloe has been courted by many of the other top clubs in the FAWSL," he continued, adding that "the maturity" shown by the player during this situation "has been of the highest order."
Despite only making her senior debut last year, the Blues boss believes “the fans are already warming to Chloe" and so he is thrilled to have secured her services on a long-term basis.
Busy Blues
It hasn’t all been good news for Birmingham though, with two of the club’s key players Becky Spencer and Karen Carney both leaving the club to join WSL 1 defending champions Chelsea this window.
The latter's departure is a particularly big one, with the England international having captained the team and spent nine years with the club during two different spells.
Off the pitch though, they are making progress, with Tim Andrews being appointed Birmingham’s Chief Executive Officer.
Andrew’s role will include “developing the club in an ever increasingly competitive and financially demanding climate,” in a role which he describes as an honour and one which he is “truly delighted” to take on.