Renee Slegers thrilled to continue her Arsenal project after signing new deal

Renee Slegers is relishing the opportunity to “continue to build” at Arsenal after signing a new deal as head coach until 2029.

The 36-year-old was appointed as the Gunners’ permanent boss in January 2025 after an interim stint and steered the side to a Champions League title in May last year, along with a second-placed Women’s Super League finish.

Reflecting on her new contract, Slegers said: “I’m honoured, I’m happy, I’m grateful for the opportunity and we want to continue to build.

“I’ve started something and I think building something takes time, so I’m really happy I get the opportunity to stay here for longer and keep on contributing.

“If you really want to build something you hear everyone saying it all the time ‘everyone’s building’. But it takes time to build, you can’t build something overnight or in a couple of days.

“It takes time so I’m really happy we’re committed now. I commit to the club to do my work as well as I can and the club is committing as well.

“It takes time and I get the time now to continue to do it.”

Chloe Kelly and Daphne van Domselaar are unavailable for the Gunners’ WSL clash with Manchester United and Kyra Cooney-Cross has travelled back to Australia following news of her mother’s cancer diagnosis.

Speaking about Cooney-Cross, Slegers said: “There’s no timescale at the moment, she is where she needs to be with her mum and sisters spending time there.

“That’s all we know and that’s all that’s important at the moment.”

On Sunday, WSL leaders Manchester City are in action against Everton, Brighton travel to Aston Villa and Tottenham take on Leicester.

Bottom side Liverpool host London City Lionesses and second-placed Chelsea face West Ham, who appointed Rita Guarino as their new head coach in December.

Looking ahead to the match, Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor said: “I think the clarity on the goals in Chelsea have always been clear. For the players they know what to expect.

“For us it’s going into every game making sure we bring the right mentality and the performance for us to get the three points.

“Right now we are six points behind but we have 11 games to play in the league and we still are playing every team.

“If we perform well and get good results in every game, we should be in a good place at the end of the season. Everything is still on the table.”