Earl: “It’s such an honour and a privilege”

It was a proud moment for Maddy Earl to sign her first professional contract with us on Thursday.

Doing so as an academy graduate makes the achievement even more special, she explained.

“It's such an honour and a privilege to be able to sign for my childhood club,” she said. “It's a club that I've grown up with and I think that it's just amazing to be able to sign here.

“I think it's just the club as a whole, the values and the ethos of the club, it's just amazing to be a part of and I can't wait to continue my journey throughout.

“I think being here from so young has helped me massively grow and develop and, being at Hale End, the boys were amazing. They were so fast and the intensity was so good. So, I definitely feel that it's enabled me to be the player that I am today.”

Asked for her favourite memory in an Arsenal shirt so far, Maddy looked back to a pivotal moment for her and the team.

“I think definitely looking back into the summer, playing at the FIFA Blue Stars tournament, that was such an amazing experience - not only for me, but for the team as well,” she explained. “We obviously won the tournament and me getting the FIFA Player of the Tournament was just such an incredible feeling. Being able to share that with the team and being recognised by the people at FIFA was just an amazing feeling.

“I think I’m just learning to embrace every opportunity as it comes. Obviously, going to the USA with the first team was such an incredible, amazing and unique opportunity given to me. So, I think it was just taking every moment and learning to embrace everything that I could gain from that trip.”

Maddy got her first taste of senior football when she spent the first half of the season on loan at Bristol City.

“The difference from academy football to senior football is definitely a huge step up, but I definitely think at Arsenal, they try to bridge that gap really well, and they're one of the main clubs that help the academy players get into and breakthrough into that senior team,” she said. “And I think that going out on loan has definitely brought me a new perspective to football and playing in different styles and different formations. So, it's really helped improve my game.

“I think it's definitely been so valuable to me. Obviously, playing at England at such a young age, and playing up and playing against really strong other European top clubs has just given me the platform to be able to go and show what I can actually do and improve against them.”