Chloe Kelly can’t stop grinning. It almost looks painful to hold your mouth so wide, but this is a pain she will willingly bear and keep bearing. Four months ago the forward wason the ropes, her love of football gone and her chance of making England’sEuro 2025 squad slim. An impasse with Manchester City meant she had started one game all season and, despite their staggering injury crisis, it seemed there was no way back. Now, she is a European champion at club and country level, after a deadline-day loan to Arsenal was forced, in part, by a bold decision to go public with the way she was feelingon social media.
“I was ready to take a break from football completely,” Kelly says. “I’m just grateful. As soon as I stepped foot in this club, I found happiness. Renée Slegers, as soon as she got on the phone to me, to give me the opportunity to represent this badge, I wanted to repay her. From being in such a dark place to now, it’s crazy.”
Gold medal around her neck, Kelly has already been partying hard, her pitch celebrations a microcosm of what is to come on Saturday night. That the scorer of the winning goal in theEuro 2022 finalreached thepinnacle of European club footballin an Arsenal shirt against Barcelona is a full-circle moment, and one that is deeply emotional for Arsenal fans too. Kelly was the one of the ones that got away, the academy product who left the club, eight years on from joining as a 12-year-old, in search of first-team football. She found that at Everton, a loan move turned permanent, then joined City, where she would win an FA Cup and League Cup before going on to write history for England at a home Euros, the image of herin her bra swinging her shirtaround her head adorning T-shirts, clocks, tattoos and more.
“I was literally speaking to Lotte [Wubben-Moy] on the pitch about this after the game,” says Kelly, looking back at her academy days. “Me and Lotte used to get the underground to Finsbury Park, [then] Finsbury Park to Potters Bar. At Potters Bar, we used to get off and get a bus and get off at the M25 bridge and walk to the training ground. Looking back, it’s been a journey. To do it with these girls is so good.”
Also in the academy was Leah Williamson, and now the England trio have tasted double European success together. They understand the history of Arsenal, they understand what it means for Kim Little to be crowned a European champion, they understand what it means to have Kelly Smith as a coach, they know what Arsenal’s 2007 European champions mean to the club, they know their manager spent time in the academy that birthed them as players and wears a signet ring on her little finger marked with the art-deco crest the club adopted in 1935. They are the players that Arsenal want to keep producing, players who grow into the culture of the club. Kelly says this trophy is for those who paved the way.
“Winning with the players that I’ve played with growing up … it’s amazing. You see the journey that everyone is on from the beginning. Arsenal have always paved the way for women’s football and we continue to do so. This is for the ones that have allowed us to be here today.”
This connection to the club that raised her has meant the fans have quickly embraced her. Her second debut was greeted with a standing ovation worthy of a returning war hero. “I love them, they’re flipping amazing,” Kelly says of the fans. “Whether at the Emirates, whether here in Lisbon, Villa Park when things weren’t going to plan, they know exactly what we want and they’re on that journey with us. They’re the best fans that I’ve ever played in front of. Whether I was playing against them or for them, they’re the best fans.”
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Kelly’s contract with Manchester City expires in June; will she be staying in north London? “Look, if it’s my last game for the club, I’ll for ever be grateful,” she says. “I know I’ve given my all to Arsenal football club and Arsenal football club has given their all to me. They gave me an opportunity to step foot on the pitch and find happiness. It’s not about football at times. No matter what happened today, the club gave me happiness.”