Nigerian player Ashleigh Plumptre has joined Saudi club Al-Ittihad on a free transfer, having left Leicester City.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, September 13, Al-Ittihad Club unveiled Plumptre’s signing with a video interview and wrote, “Welcome to Al-Ittihad Ashleigh Plumptre.”
“Joining Al-Ittihad, I feel as if I’m going to have so many opportunities both on and off the pitch to be able to learn about football here,” Plumptre said in a video.
“For me, I don’t come here with any expectations, I come here being myself and I hope that I can learn and take so much from the environment both as a football player and more importantly as a human being.”
Watch the video below here
“So grateful to have signed with Al-Ittihad and excited to start this journey alongside some amazing people,” Plumptre wrote on X.
“My journey to learn about new cultures continues. It’s more than just football,” she added.
25-year-old joined Al-Ittihad after spending three years at Leicester where she made 62 appearances..
She left the English club after the expiration of her contract on July 13.
Saudi Arabia’s first women’s football league was launched in 2020, two years after women were first allowed into stadiums in the kingdom, but campaigners say more needs to be done.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s women’s team entered the Fifa world rankings for the first time and the country is bidding to host the 2026 Women’s Asia Cup.
Who else has joined Saudi Arabian clubs?
In the men’s game, in 2023 transfer window saw big-name players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Karim Benzema, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Aymeric Laporte all move to clubs in Saudi Arabia for lucrative offers.
