By Freya Ward (23/6/24)
Above: Ellie Roebuck unveiled as a Barcelona player earlier this week. Photo: FC Barcelona Femeni
European Championship winner Ellie Roebuck joins FC Barcelona on a two-year deal after nine years with Manchester City.
The UEFA Women’s Champions League holders have got Roebuck on a deal until June 2026 on a free transfer following the expiration of her contract at Manchester City.
Since joining Manchester City’s academy at the age of 15, Roebuck made her debut on the final day of the 2016 Women’s Super League season and went on to make 136 appearances – keeping 62 clean sheets in her nine-year spell for the Sky Blues – the second most clean sheets of any City women’s keeper just trailing behind Karen Bardsley.
Roebuck is a well-known name in the Lionesses squad, featuring regularly over the past few years, earning herself 11 caps – she was a part of the European Championship winning side in 2022 as well as acquiring a World Cup silver medal in 2023- however, she did not make an appearance at either tournament.
Despite not stepping on to the pitch in a major tournament for England, Roebuck spent summer of 2021 at the Tokyo Olympic Games representing team Great Britain as the team’s number one, where she kept two clean sheets, aiding her team to reach the quarter-finals before they were knocked out by Australia.
Roebuck’s current form is something that is relatively up in the air, due to a medical issue that saw her sidelined for the entirety of the 23/24 WSL season -she recently confirmed the reasoning for her absence on her social media after much speculation to as why she had suddenly been dropped from Gareth Taylor’s matchday squads.
Her last appearance for City was against rivals Manchester United (23/5/23) where she received a red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. However, if her prior seasons are anything to go off then Barcelona have bagged themselves a steal, signing the inaugural WSL golden glove winner!
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