Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports via Imagn Images
One day before the start of the 2026 regular season, Gotham FC dropped a huge bomb, announcing the signing of Norwegian winger Guro Reiten. Pending visa approval, Reiten will join the Bats from Chelsea FC in England, first on loan through the 2025-26 Women’s Super League season and then as a free agent on a contract through 2029. The 31-year-old, who hasn’t scored or assisted in her 260 minutes of league play this WSL season, will be 35 by the time her contract is up with the Bats. What could have made Gotham want to take such a big chance on her?
She fills a big gap in Gotham’s roster
Reiten is a true left winger, a type of player Gotham has never had in the Juan Carlos Amorós era. Players who filled in at the spot in previous years include Ella Stevens, Gabi Portilho, and Lynn Biyendolo, all of whom are no longer with the club, as well as Jaedyn Shaw, whose talents are better suited to her more familiar attacking midfield role. Having three players in their natural positions on the forward line will be huge for a team that has historically struggled to score goals.
She’s a pretty good player
Current season notwithstanding (seeing as her minutes steeply dropped with Chelsea’s signing of Alyssa Thompson), Reiten averaged 6.2 goals and 5.2 assists per 22-game WSL season, which comes down to 0.96 goals and assists per 90. And she hasn’t been entirely unproductive this season either, notching 5 assists and 1 goal in non-WSL competitions. What exactly can Guro Reiten do?
Cross a ball into the box
In the 2024-25 WSL season (the last one where she got consistent minutes), Reiten ranked in the 90th percentile for successful crosses, with 2.06 per game.
She has shown that she can deliver aerial crosses…
… which offers good opportunity to combine with Gotham’s aerial threats like Esther González and 5 ’11” rookie forward Jordynn Dudley.
And that she can place a mean low driven ball across the box.
Pick out other attackers
Reiten also ranks high in big chances created (80th percentile in 2024-25 WSL). A lot of that has come from her ability to pick out players and place them in 1v1 situations.
In this clip, she intercepts a pass from an opposing defender and gets the ball to the feet of Sam Kerr, who she noticed was by herself on an island in the middle of the penalty box.
And in the same game, she demonstrated that she can do it from distance too, delivering a long ball forward that left teammate Aggie Beever-Jones in a favorable 1v1 situation with the opposing goalkeeper.
Gotham FC General Manager Yael Averbuch West mentioned that Reiten has been on the team’s radar for a while. If she can continue to do what caught the front office’s eye while she plays for the Bats, she will definitely be a worthy acquisition.
Score penalties (among other goals)
This isn’t going to be a situation Gotham will find themselves in every day. But having Chelsea’s all-time penalty scoring leader on their team is a big step in making sure Gotham never has a repeat of the 2024 semifinal penalty shootout.
Score non-penalty goals
Gotham’s 2025 championship win was certainly an incredible feat, but it does bury the fact that the Bats finished the season with only three more goals than last-place Chicago Stars. Gotham need goals, and Reiten has certainly shown she’s capable of delivering. In fact, here’s her scoring three in one game when her team needed them most.
Gotham’s biggest weakness in the past few years has been its offense so being able to pull off finishes like these is an invaluable boost to the squad.
She has experience as a fullback
Bruninha and Lilly Reale both picking up injuries in the most recent international window—and Bruninha still being unable to play—was a stark reminder of how thin Gotham’s fullback pool is. Although Reiten’s most comfortable position is on the wing, she has also played significant minutes for Chelsea as a fullback. She’s even put up decent defensive numbers, ranking in the 80th percentile in the 2024-25 WSL season for the number of dribblers she’s allowed past her. Lilly Reale is and should be Gotham’s plan A at left back, but having competent depth in the position will only help the club in the future, especially in a long season with many mid-week NWSL and CONCACAF W Champions Cup games.
There was no transfer fee (and she’s HIP-eligible!)
Because Reiten is coming to Gotham on loan until her contract with Chelsea lapses, the club doesn’t have to pay a transfer fee. Then, the Bats get to lock her down for 3.5 more years on a free agent contract in the summer. Because the winger ranked in the top 40 of the Guardian Top 100 football players in the world in 2024, she just qualifies for a High Impact Player contract that would significantly decrease her salary-cap hit to the club provided her salary makes up at least 12% of the total cap. So this could pan out to be a very wise financial decision by Gotham’s front office.
She’s a highly-experienced veteran
Excluding Reiten, Gotham’s existing forward pool consists of two rookies, two sophomores (who barely saw the pitch in 2025), two players only signed through this season, and a 32-year-old striker. Because of that, Reiten’s presence as an experienced veteran will be invaluable to Gotham’s young forward line, especially in 2027 and beyond. Even if Reiten isn’t able to perform like she did in the peak of her career, she will be around to provide important guidance to the players that will define Gotham’s next few years.
Gotham has a habit of bringing out the best in players
Since head coach Juan Carlos Amorós took the reins in 2023, Gotham FC has managed to kick-start or revive the careers of many players. A non-exhaustive list includes:
Mandy McGlynn
Nealy Martin
Delanie Sheehan
Yazmeen Ryan
Esther Gonzalez
Jennna Nighswonger
Ann-Katrin Berger
Ella Stevens
Lilly Reale
Jaelin Howell
Sarah Schupansky
So if history is on the Bats’ side, Reiten could even have a bit of a career resurgence at the team after being benched at Chelsea earlier this season.
Is Reiten guaranteed to be a game changer for Gotham FC? Not necessarily. But she is a proven veteran with a number of tools in her arsenal that are more likely than not to help a team that has historically struggled to score.
