Layla Drury Set to Sign Historic Pro Deal with Manchester United Women
Manchester United Women are about to rewrite another page of their own history, and at the heart of it is a teenager who has barely finished her exams.
Layla Drury, already the club’s youngest ever player, is set to become the youngest footballer to sign a professional contract with United’s Women’s Super League side. She is 17. The ink on her breakthrough season has barely dried.
Drury burst into the senior picture in January, thrown into an FA Cup tie against Burnley and responding as if it were a kickabout in the park. United won 5-0. She scored. In doing so, she became the club’s youngest goalscorer, another record falling at her feet before she had even turned 17.
Her rise has not been a token gesture. While still only 16 last season, the forward made seven senior appearances in all competitions, including five off the bench in the WSL. These were not ceremonial minutes. They were part of a deliberate plan.
That plan is now stepping up. United intend for Drury to spend next season with the first team on a full-time basis, integrating fully into Marc Skinner’s senior squad and the rhythm of elite football. No more dipping a toe in. This is the deep end.
For the club, her progress is more than a feelgood story. It is a validation of an academy strategy they are determined to make central to the future of their women’s team. Developing their own talent is seen as key to building a sustainable model, one that doesn’t just rely on marquee signings but produces them.
Drury’s journey has already cut across borders as well as age groups. Born in Wales, she represented both Wales and England at youth international level before switching her allegiance to England in February. That decision underlined how highly she is regarded within the national setup, as well as at club level.
Her debut in January came at 16 years and 220 days, nudging aside a significant name in United’s recent history. Lauren James had held the record as the club’s youngest player since 2018. Now that landmark belongs to Drury, another attacking talent with the potential to shape United’s future.
She will also become the first player to sign a professional deal with United Women before her 18th birthday. It is a symbolic threshold, the kind of detail that tends to be remembered if the career that follows lives up to its early promise.
If Drury represents the next wave at one WSL club, another side in the division is turning to established international quality to fuel its own ambitions.
London City Lionesses have confirmed the signing of Germany forward Nicole Anyomi on a four-year contract after the expiry of her deal with Eintracht Frankfurt. The numbers from her time in the Frauen-Bundesliga are emphatic: 60 goals in 130 games for Frankfurt, a consistent threat over several seasons.
Anyomi also carries major tournament pedigree. She was part of the Germany squad that reached the Euro 2022 final against England at Wembley, an experience that hardened her at the sharp end of international competition.
Speaking to London City Lionesses’ club media, she laid out the appeal of the move in simple terms: she had always wanted to play abroad, and the chance to join a club with a clear project “means the world” to her.
Two forwards, two very different stages of their careers. One just stepping into adulthood, the other bringing continental experience to a growing WSL outfit. Both moves, in their own way, hint at a league that is not standing still.
