Arsenal Women have announced the signing of Canadian striker Cloe Lacasse from Benfica on a permanent deal.
The 29-year-old arrives in North London following a goal-laden four-year spell in Portugal and becomes the Gunners' second signing of the summer after Swedish defender Amanda Ilestedt.
"I'm super excited and enthusiastic to get started here," Lacasse told arsenal.com. "I feel ready mentally and physically to be able to contribute here and win titles and I feel that this club has everything it takes to compete for the highest honours. I want to go to the next level and score goals here for Arsenal."
Rising to prominence during her College days at the University of Iowa, Lacasse's first foray into professional football came with the Toronto Lady Lynx in the USL W-League before a 2015 move to Icelandic side IBV.
The 29-year-old scored 73 goals in 113 games for the IBV, winning the League Cup Women A and triumphing in the Icelandic Women's Cup one year later.
Lacasse hit double figures in four successive Urvalsdeild kvenna seasons before transferring to Benfica in 2019, where she won the Campeonato Nacional Feminino Golden Boot in her debut season with a remarkable 23 goals in 15 matches.
The Canadian also won the Taca da Liga Feminina in the 2019-20 season and continued her red-hot goalscoring form for the next three campaigns, totalling 102 goals in 131 matches for Benfica.
Welcome the Arsenal family, @cloe_lacasse ❤️ pic.twitter.com/GQcQfIWN8N
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) June 29, 2023
Lacasse won three successive Campeonato Nacional Feminino titles between 2021 and 2023, while also collecting another two Taca da Liga Feminina crowns and two Supertaca de Portugal Feminina honours.
With another 20 goals in 20 league games last season, Lacasse was named the division's Player of the Year, while she also hit seven goals in 10 Champions League matches including qualifying.
"I'm really pleased that we have signed Cloe to strengthen our forward line here at Arsenal," head coach Jonas Eidevall added.
"Cloe is a proven goalscorer and has shown her quality over a number of seasons in two European leagues as well as the Champions League. She will add a different dimension to our attacking game and I'm looking forward to working with her."
Finally, Head of Women's Football Clare Wheatley said: "Cloe is a player we have been monitoring for some time so we're delighted to have completed this signing.
"Cloe's record is very impressive and we believe she has the right qualities to slot straight into our playing style here at Arsenal. I'm sure our supporters will be excited to see Cloe in the red and white."
Lacasse was granted Icelandic citizenship while playing for IBV, but her request to represent Iceland internationally was rejected by FIFA, and she subsequently made her debut for Canada Women in November 2021.
The striker has since scored one goal in 19 appearances for the Canadian national team, and she was named in their provisional squad for the 2023 World Cup.
Ben Knapton
