Chloe Kelly: Man City loanee proving to be the player Arsenal never knew they needed

“I’m playing free and that’s when I’m at my best,” Chloe Kelly told Sky Sports from England camp this week, complete with a beaming smile. “I’m having fun.”

The winger enters this month’s international break off the back of two outstanding performances for Arsenal.

There was plenty of reason to believe Kelly would thrive at the club she progressed through as a youngster after January’s shock loan move from Manchester City but the reality still needed stress testing. Early signs are good.

“We want you to stay,” Gunners fans chanted after Kelly provided the assist for Beth Mead’s opener in a 4-0 rout of Crystal Palace at the weekend. The fact Kelly and Mead, both traditional right-wingers, were deployed in the same starting XI and combined to good effect is valuable too.

Plenty of pessimists doubted whether England’s Euro 2022 hero would find the playing time – and spark – she so desired having been reduced to just 165 minutes of Women’s Super League football at Man City this term. Arsenal already had three of the league’s most effective wide operators in rotation – Mead, Mariona Caldentey and Caitlin Foord. But Kelly has proved the perfect companion.

Her seamless transition has felt like the restoration of natural order. A player reasserting herself within the Arsenal cosmos as if she never left. And with the added comfort of proving City’s very public, very messy decision to freeze her out was misjudged.

The 27-year-old, in her prime years, is feeling valued again. “She really contributes to our training environment,” Renee Slegers said of her new recruit recently. “She’s very feisty, she’s a winner, very competitive. She’s great. We’re very happy with her.”

Something about the upheaval has emboldened Kelly. There’s the ‘I told you so’ bit, but that feels a bit beneath her. Really what this recent block of games has proven is the immense quality and versatility she offers when given the confidence to express her personality.

The newly appointed Baller League coach isn’t shy of the limelight. She’s often been a big-occasion specialist. Which makes City’s decision to allow her to leave in January and join a direct WSL rival, amid a campaign that included a run at the Champions League knockout phase, all the more curious.

Since Kelly’s departure, City have lost the League Cup final, fallen further behind in the WSL race and exited Europe. Head coach Gareth Taylor, whom the forward fell out of favour with, has also been sacked. The optics aren’t great.

She’ll take little enjoyment from watching City’s demise in three separate competitions – all at the hands of Chelsea – over the past fortnight but she’s within her right to question the rationale. City’s injury-hit frontline has been left to flounder, looking every bit like strangers, while Kelly has rediscovered her form to play a pivotal role in Arsenal’s progression to the Champions League final four.

“The football pitch has always been a fun place for me – from the cages until now. I’m back enjoying it,” she explained from St George’s Park this week.

Kelly has averaged 3.8 shots, 5.8 crosses and 2.4 chances per appearance in the WSL since her switch to north London. Her game suits Slegers’ expansive, front-footed style perfectly and the speed of connection with new team-mates has been equally impressive, caught playing more like a No 10 as Arsenal hammered four past Palace on Sunday. Subtle but simple genius.

The Gunners have since drawn level with league leaders Chelsea for goals scored, netting at least nine more than any other team in 2025. Their xG performance (10.8) is at a league-high while their creation of set-piece goals (of which Kelly has become a regular taker) is unrivalled.

Arsenal are proving once again to be a creative force, demonstrated in no small part by their calculated comeback to dump Real Madrid out of Europe last week. Forty-five minutes away from an exit, Kelly provided two assists within the first five minutes of a dramatic second half – both from pinpoint crosses – to claw Arsenal level in the tie before Alessia Russo despatched the winner.

Kelly’s ability to drive off the wing and attract defenders added nuance to every attack. It became the one problem Real failed to solve. Such synergy with England peers should be of great benefit to Sarina Wiegman this summer too.

And that’s the beauty of football, small details that matter. An unexpected opportunity to add a player with deceptive talent in January, perhaps, that helps change the course of a season for the better.

In three weeks, eight-time Champions League winners Lyon will travel to the Emirates to contest the first leg of a sure-to-be enthralling semi-final. Arsenal will have to cause another upset, one that Kelly is sure to be at the heart of.