Tottenham Hotspur Women confirmed the signing of 27-year-old midfielder Victoria Pelova on a free transfer. Pelova was most recently at Arsenal, where she shone before an ACL injury derailed her career in June, 2024.
I remain confused and annoyed that Spurs continue to sign central players when we have such a dearth of talent on the wings, but I’m pretty excited about Pelova. She arrived at Arsenal from Ajax in 2023, and I remember absolutely seething with jealousy at the time. Over the years, Pelova has played all over midfield, and occasionally as a midfielder and a fullback. She’s been lauded for her work rate, positioning, ball carrying and passing (so like… everything?), but by her own admission, she loves registering assists the most. Off the pitch, she’s a competitive chess player and has a master’s degree in applied math. Isn’t that neat?
But Pelova missed most of the 2024-25 season with her ACL tear, and she hasn’t really managed to find her feet again since returning. With ACL injuries, it’s anyone’s guess whether players will ever come back the same, but it does happen. I’m happy for us to take a swing on a player of Pelova’s potential quality, especially since we have plenty of other cover in midfield in case it doesn’t work out. This could also help stabilize midfield going forward should we lose our other midfielders to age or bigger sharks in the water.
Obviously, something like this would be unthinkable on the men’s side. But on the women’s side, it’s a well trodden path – we took Mana Iwabuchi and Viki Schnaderbeck on loan, and a number of our players did stints in the Arsenal academy (and some even appeared for the first team!) before coming to Tottenham. Given the comparative size and quality of Arsenal’s academy to almost any other team, this is kind of unavoidable. That said, there’s still a little bit of spiciness to this transfer. It’s my sincere hope that we can nurture Pelova’s undeniable talent more than Arsenal could.