The past week has been fun for those who follow Arsenal. They may have beaten Manchester City 4-3 in the Women’s Super League but it has also been a time for staff, coaches, journalists and fans to test their pronunciation skills.

Jenna Nighswonger (pronounced NYE-swong-ger) signed on from Gotham FC on deadline day late last week, becoming the latest USWNT player to move to England. The defender’s arrival has been greeted by light-hearted attempts to pronounce her surname properly but Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers says with a smile, “I just say Jenna.”

While this kind of transatlantic move seems to be another in a growing trend, Nighswonger says that her arrival in English football is one that has always been on the cards.

“To go way back, this is something I wanted to do since I was seven or eight,” the 24-year-old says in her first roundtable interview since joining Arsenal. “When I was planning my whole life, as one does, coming out of college I wanted to go to Europe. But then a great opportunity with Gotham happened (she was selected fourth overall in the 2023 NWSL draft). I went to Gotham but in the back of my mind, I always really wanted to play in Europe.

“I watched the Premier League a lot. I would watch every team because that’s just where the good soccer was. When I was like seven or eight, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna play for Manchester United, the men’s team’.”

The room erupts into laughter at this comment before Nighswonger clarifies that Wayne Rooney was the player who captured her imagination. Born in 2000, that charts with when Rooney played a key part in Manchester United’s 2007-08 season, when they won the Premier League and Champions League. She then adds, “This opportunity presented itself (to join Arsenal) and I was so happy to join.”

Emily Fox (Arsenal), Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United), Naomi Girma, Catarina Macario and Mia Fishel (all Chelsea) are fellow USWNT players who have crossed the pond recently. There has been speculation about whether Girma and Nighswonger’s transfers this window have been influenced by USWNT head coach — and former Chelsea head coach — Emma Hayes but Arsenal’s new recruit is quick to quell those theories.

“I don’t really believe that narrative,” she says. “With Emma Hayes, she was like, ‘Go wherever you’re going to be happy, whether that’s in the NWSL, the WSL or another country’. She’s happy if I’m happy, and I’m happy here. She wasn’t pushing us.

“I don’t know (why so many players are leaving Gotham). I really just focus on myself. I have my reasons for leaving Gotham, which is that this is a great opportunity. I love everyone (there) and I think that everyone just has their right to pursue their happiness, whether that’s at Gotham or elsewhere.”

Nighswonger has a familiar face at Arsenal in fellow USWNT defender Fox. Fox is two years her senior and made her move to the WSL in last year’s winter window, which has seen “a million questions” fly her way. Fox left the States just after her third season in the NWSL while Nighswonger has moved just before what would have been her third NWSL season. Another part of the appeal was learning a different, more tactical side of the game in the WSL, which Fox took to like a duck to water.

“She’s obviously such a great player and a great person,” Nighswonger says. “I look up to her a lot, so to have her saying that it’s a great club, I can trust that.”

Fox isn’t her only source of inspiration, however. Both players helped the USWNT win gold at last summer’s Paris Olympics, with former Chelsea and Gotham winger/full-back Crystal Dunn in the squad. Having also deputised for World Cup winners Ali Krieger and Tierna Davidson at Gotham, Nighswonger will take those experiences with her to north London.

“They’re both so calm when they play,” she says. “I get really emotional and into the heat of the game, so having someone to balance me out and be the yin to my yang was so nice. I learned so much from them and they’re just, like, such good leaders. I’ve been so lucky and grateful to have them my past two years; always answering my questions and taking time out of their day to help me get better. It was so great to play with them.

“I don’t really think about being a leader or have aspirations of being the captain of the national team, but I think that playing next to people like Ali Krieger has helped. She took me under her wing, so as I get older, I’d love to do that and help people around me in any way that I can.”

Those who watched her in college at Florida State will know Nighswonger has not always been a left-back. Formerly a No 8/No 10 in midfield, the switch came when Gotham were short on left-backs and she was the only left-footed player free to fill the void. She has grown to “love” the position for a few reasons.

“The creative freedom that left-backs have,” she says. “We can get forward, you can go high, you can go inside; it really just depends on the tactics of the game.

“There’s even versatility in being a left-back and that’s really fun. Then just being involved in everything, defending and attacking — I love that.”

That ability to be multifaceted in one position, as well as her age, is why Arsenal and Slegers took an interest in her. Nighswonger’s arrival will give her new team more flexibility not just in how they can use the ball but also how they set up. Left-back has been 29-year-old Katie McCabe’s home in recent seasons but Nighswonger is a slightly different option and five years her junior.

Slegers has also used fellow left-back Steph Catley, 31, at centre-back to help solidify Arsenal’s defence, which she admits has opened up a role on the outside. That does not mean Nighswonger will be contained to one area of the pitch, however.

“Jenna is a left-back but can play in other positions as well, and that’s why (we signed her),” Slegers adds. “Because Steph has been playing a lot in the centre-back position, we wanted to get another left-back in. I think Jenna’s a great fit for us.”

“It’s all (about) processes in the background. There’s a great structure in place on how we want to build the squad, what that looks like over time and how you plan your future. This was an area we wanted to add a player with certain qualities and the age profile was perfect as well.”

Nighswonger also comes to England with the reputation of scoring ‘olimpico’ goals direct from corner kicks when she was at college. She forced an own goal with an attempt in 2021 and scored three in 2022 — two in two separate games in September of that year and one in an ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) Championship match.

Slightly embarrassed when this is raised, she quickly says, “If I do this, it’s an accident! If I pull up and my first corner is an olimpico, it’s an accident. So we’ll see.”

Whether or not she manages to curl the ball home from a corner, Arsenal are happy to have their latest American on board, and Nighswonger is happy to have landed.

With Fox making an instant impact from right-back in 2024, how Nighswonger takes to the WSL in 2025 is being eagerly awaited by all.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

US Women's national team, UK Women's Football

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