It has been a busy time for Karen Hills as she continues to assemble her squad to face the daunting task of competing in the Women's Super League.
Fixtures for 2026/27 will be announced on July 30th and the season will kick off on the weekend of September 4th-6th. The signing by London City Lionesses of two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas is a sign of how challenging the task ahead will be.
At present fourteen members of last season's squad are preparing for the season ahead. Jodie Hutton, Katie Lockwood, Mary McAteer, Kiera Skeels, Lizzie Waldren and Sophie Whitehouse have been joined by Elisha N'Dow, Luica Lobato, Lucy Fitzgerald, Gillian Kenney, Gloria Siber, Anna Pederson, Ellie Mason and Carla Humphrey who have all agreed contract extensions in recent weeks. Hills has also bolstered her squad with three new signings, hopefully three of many.
Paula Partido was the first through the door, hopping on the number 54 bus to sign on loan from London City Lionesses. Partido started her career with Real Madrid, going on to make two senior appearances for the Spanish giants. Regular football then came with loans to Celtic and Sevilla, sealing the move to Bromley last summer. Six days after signing, Partido was sent back out to Spain in a loan deal to DUX Logroño. Her parent club then recalled her in January but Partido did not make an appearance.
She is nominally a right winger so she could be seen as a replacement for Karin Muya. A browse of her statistics and years of watching Karen Hills sides suggests she could also play as a wing back in the absence of Charlotte Newsham. The Spaniard averaged nearly five recoveries per 90 last season and won nearly half of her duels. Her heat map shows a dark pocket of red either side of the halfway line, suggesting she is not scared to drop back. The former Spain youth international has only scored five first team goals in her career but Charlton don’t look to score many anyway.
Grace Johnston from Australian club Perth Glory was next to sign, putting pen to paper on a two year deal with a club option to extend it by a further twelve months. Johnston is a full back, primarily playing on the right but can also play on the left, with her Wikipedia page also saying she can play in central midfield too. It is hard to benchmark the A-League Women against the WSL and there isn’t much that stands out about Johnston but at 21 she’s young and has time to develop. Most notable about Johnston is that she played every minute of the 2025/2026 league season. Karen Hills had a few injury issues to deal with last term so that durability and versatility will come in useful.
Goalkeeper Anna Koivunen is the third new signing arriving from Swedish side Djurgårdens IF. She is a Finnish international (six caps) who has joined on a two-year contract and will provide extra competition for Sophie Whitehouse and Anna Pedersen.
Anna said: "I’ve always been a goalkeeper; I don’t know why. There has to be something wrong with me. I played in Finland till I was 18/19, moved to Sweden, played there for five and a half years, most recently in Stockholm, and now I’m here. I’ve always wanted to play in England. I think the league is really interesting; there’s a lot of good players, and I feel like the things you did last year were really, really good, and I’m excited to be here and do even better. I have many friends playing here, and I have only heard good stories about the league, and obviously all the best players play here, so it’s going to be a huge challenge."
Welcome to SE7 Paula, Grace and Anna!