Kirsty Hanson: Tottenham's Ambitious New Forward
Kirsty Hanson does not arrive in the WSL with a fanfare of overseas hype or a glossy unveiling video. She turns up with numbers, scars and a point to prove.
Tottenham might just have stolen a march on everyone.
Last season, while Aston Villa laboured to ninth, Hanson quietly became one of the most ruthless forwards in the division. Twelve goals in 22 league games. Only Khadija Shaw and Alessia Russo scored more. No fuss, no noise, just a relentless end product in a struggling side.
So why walk away from a club where she was adored, trusted and central to everything?
From low on confidence to Villa talisman
Hanson’s surge into the spotlight in 2023-24 looked sudden from the outside. It wasn’t. It was the peak of a climb that began when she left Manchester United searching for minutes and belief.
At United, she had helped lay the foundations of the club’s professional women’s team. Then the starts dried up. Confidence followed.
Villa took a chance on her in 2022, initially on loan. She arrived needing a reset.
By the time she left, she had 26 goals in 100 appearances, two player-of-the-season awards and her career back in her own hands.
“I've got to thank Villa so much. They know that I left on good terms. I really enjoyed my time,” she told BBC Sport. “Everyone there helped me boost my confidence again. Hopefully, I can just build on that now, but I'm not putting pressure on myself.”
Leaving, then, was not an escape. It was a choice.
“It was obviously a very tough decision to leave Villa but just looking at Spurs, you could see their ambition and each season they have been improving.”
Ambition. That word keeps coming back to Tottenham right now.
The Martin Ho factor
One detail jumps out in Hanson's move: the manager.
“When they appointed Martin [Ho] as manager, I think that was a big statement because he is one of the best coaches I've worked with.”
Hanson knows Ho well. He was assistant at Manchester United from 2020 to 2023, a period when she was still trying to establish herself at the top level. He saw her up close then. He has now made her one of his first big Tottenham targets.
Spurs backed him, paying an undisclosed fee to get her.
“I know he gets the best out of me with the detail he puts in. I really think that will push me further on in my career,” she said.
The relationship matters. So does the challenge.
“Training's been really tough. It was probably one of the toughest pre-seasons I've done so far. Martin is challenging us, trying to push us to our limits.
“That's what I really wanted, because I needed a challenge. I don't just want to be signed because they think I'm good, I want them to improve me.”
This is not a comfort move. It is a step into a more ruthless environment.
Spurs raise the bar
Tottenham finished fifth last season. Respectable, but not enough for a club that now openly talks about the top three and the Women’s Champions League.
Hanson is one piece of a wider push.
Spurs have brought in West Ham’s top scorer Shekiera Martinez, France defender Alice Sombath from Lyon and creative midfielder Victoria Pelova from Arsenal. That is not a squad being built to stand still.
It is also not a squad where anyone is guaranteed a place.
“It’s going to be tough. I'm not expecting anything. My main aim is just to be better because I've got so many levels to go to. Martin knows that as well,” Hanson said.
“I'm definitely comfortable [in the WSL] now but I still don't see myself as one of the best. I'm very critical of myself.”
She knows exactly what she is walking into.
“I knew the level of players that were here. I'm just so excited to learn from them. I'm also here to help others, because that's what I've done at every club.
“I might not be the most talented but I've got a lot of fight and hunger in me. I literally run through a brick wall for my team. Hopefully I've showed them that.”
A numbers machine with a nasty edge
Strip away the modesty and the numbers are brutal.
Last season, Hanson scored 43% of Villa’s league goals. Almost half of everything they produced. Among the top five scorers in the WSL, she had the best shots-on-target ratio at 50%. When she pulled the trigger, she made it count.
She wasn’t just finishing moves either. Only two Villa players created more chances than her 16. She had the most touches in the opposition box. Villa did their damage through her, with or without the final shot.
And she worked.
Defensively, she ranked among the top performers in her position for tackling and interceptions. Forwards who only press in highlight clips don’t put up those numbers.
That blend – goals, graft, intelligence – is exactly what Tottenham are banking on as they try to crash the established order.
A more complete Hanson
Off the pitch, Hanson sounds like someone who has come through the messy part of a career and emerged with clarity.
She has a degree in sports coaching and talks about the game like someone who already thinks beyond her own role.
Asked where she has grown, she said: “I know what to do at different points in the game. I know how to calm players down.
“Previously when I worked with Martin, I was younger and I wouldn't have been able to cope with that as much. But now I've definitely matured a lot.”
That maturity now meets a club with sharper edges and bigger expectations.
Tottenham open their WSL season at home to West Ham on 6 September. By then, the spotlight will be on the marquee names who arrived from abroad, the glamorous signings, the headline-grabbers.
Hanson is used to working just off-centre stage.
If her Villa form travels south with her, she will not stay in the shadows for long – and neither will Spurs’ Champions League ambitions.
