Michele Kang has never done anything quietly, and the summer of 2026 is her loudest statement yet. London City Lionesses have recruited Alexia Putellas, a two-time Ballon d'Or winner, along with Mary Earps, Mapi León from PSG, and Kadidiatou Diani from Lyon. That is not a squad being assembled to finish sixth again. That is a declaration of war on the established order. Our writers have them fourth. We think that might actually be conservative, depending on how quickly this group gels. ## The Spending Is Jaw-Dropping, The Challenge Is Real Let us be honest about where London City were last season: sixth place and 22 points off the top three. That gap does not disappear overnight, no matter how many superstars you throw at it. History is littered with clubs who reshaped their squads completely and came unstuck for it. Eight new players arriving at once is a gamble, full stop. But the calibre here is genuinely different. Putellas spent 14 years at Barcelona helping build one of the dominant forces in women's football. At 32, she is not some faded name being shipped out, she had the pick of clubs worldwide and chose London City. That tells you something about what Kang is building, and it tells you something about Eder Maestre's project too. León, who signed alongside her, put it plainly: seeing a woman doing this much to push women's football forward made the decision impossible to resist. Maestre came in January after Jocelyn Prêcheur was sacked mid-season despite a strong start to the campaign. The 42-year-old previously managed UD Tenerife in Liga F, guiding them to sixth. His contract runs to 2028, but nobody should read that as job security, Kang's track record shows she will act if results do not meet her expectations. What he has done is shift how the team play, and the new arrivals look built to suit his system. One signing flying under the radar is Nicole Anyomi. With Putellas and Earps grabbing all the headlines, Anyomi, a forward largely unknown to UK audiences, arrives having scored 60 goals in 130 games for Frankfurt over five years. She could quietly be one of the signings of the season. ## The Problems Have Not Gone Away There are real structural concerns here. London City's 2024-25 accounts showed an operating loss of £10.6m against revenue of just £902,000. That is not a sustainable model, and the spending this summer will make future filings even more uncomfortable reading. [The WSL's biggest clubs have commercial infrastructure and men's team fanbases to prop them up](/uprise/football/womens-super-league-2026-27-preview-no-6-chelsea), London City have none of that. Hayes Lane in Bromley holds 5,150 people. For a club with these ambitions and this wage bill, that is a problem that needs solving sooner rather than later. They also conceded more penalties than any WSL side last season and made more defensive errors leading to goals than anyone else. Earps between the sticks addresses part of that, but the defenders in front of her need to clean up fast. Our verdict: Fourth is the floor if this squad hits the ground running, and Champions League football is a genuine possibility. But eight new signings, a relatively new manager, an unfamiliar ground, and a fanbase still being built from scratch, there are enough moving parts here to see it go sideways. Kang has the ambition. Now London City have to prove they have the substance.