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# I Don’t Think We’ve Seen The Best Of Chloe Kelly Yet
- URL: https://www.arsenalwomentrailblazers.com/i-dont-think-weve-seen-the-best-of-chloe-kelly-yet/
- Published: 2026-08-01T06:41:03.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-01T06:41:03.000Z
- Author: Roberto Revilla
- Tags: Arsenal Women News, Features, Chloe Kelly

One of the things I’ve always appreciated about Chloe Kelly is that she’s a player, and perhaps more importantly a person, who always wears her heart on her sleeve. It means that whenever she speaks to the media she’s usually brutally honest about where she is, how she’s feeling and what she’s thinking, and her recent interview with the BBC was absolutely no different. She admitted that she really needed this summer, not just physically but mentally as well, and when you stop and think about everything she’s been through over the last twelve months, it’s actually very difficult to disagree with her.

Before she’d even had the chance to settle back at Arsenal permanently there was all the uncertainty surrounding her future, wondering where she was going to be playing her football after everything that happened at Manchester City. Then almost immediately she found herself at the heart of one of the greatest nights in Arsenal Women’s recent history. She returned to the club where it had all begun, helped transform our season, and became a huge part of that unforgettable Champions League run. It felt like everything had suddenly come together again. Then, just as quickly, last season became one long battle against injury.

It’s amazing to me that I still see comments asking why Chloe Kelly wasn’t starting for Arsenal last season. Admittedly, quite a lot of them come from supporters on the men’s side who, for whatever reason, feel the need to comment on the women’s game without really watching it week in, week out. Others come from people who maybe catch the highlights on YouTube or watch the occasional game on television, but don’t see what’s happening behind the scenes or at the stadium every week. The conclusion they reach is that if Chloe isn’t starting, perhaps she isn’t playing very well or perhaps she just isn’t as good as people say she is. The reality couldn’t have been much further from the truth.

Chloe was trying to manage her body through a season where injury simply wouldn’t let her build any momentum. I think it was her knee that kept causing problems, and it became really frustrating for all of us inside the stadium because we’d so often see her sitting on the bench, supporting her teammates, desperate to be involved. Every now and again she’d come on for twenty or thirty minutes and immediately remind you of the quality she possesses, but then the following week she’d be back trying to manage another setback. Imagine how difficult that must have been for her personally. She’d gone through everything she’d experienced at Manchester City, admitted herself that she’d come close to walking away from football altogether, then Arsenal had given her a route back to the club where she started her career. She’d helped us win the Champions League, forced her way back into the England picture, and then spent her first full season back at Arsenal unable to contribute in the way that she, or any of us, wanted.

That’s a huge amount for any player to deal with in such a short period of time.

What really struck me when I read the interview wasn’t necessarily anything dramatic that Chloe said. It was how settled she sounded. Compared to where she was a couple of years ago, there just seems to be a calmness about her now. She spoke about needing this summer as an opportunity to breathe, reset and prepare properly for the season ahead, and I think that’s probably the biggest takeaway from the whole interview. Sometimes footballers need that opportunity to mentally draw a line under everything that’s happened before they can move forward, and I really got the sense that this has been that summer for Chloe Kelly.

And that’s what excites me more than anything else.

Because I’m absolutely convinced we still haven’t seen the very best of Chloe Kelly in an Arsenal shirt.

Yes, we’ve seen flashes of it. We saw it in those first few months after she returned to Arsenal, and we certainly saw it on that incredible night against Real Madrid when Arsenal overturned a two-goal deficit to reach the Champions League semi-finals. If you were inside the Emirates that evening you’ll know exactly what I mean. The atmosphere was unbelievable. We were two goals down from the first leg, somehow won 3-0, and Chloe Kelly was absolutely central to turning that tie around. It remains one of the greatest nights I’ve experienced watching Arsenal Women, and yet I still don’t think that’s the very best she has to offer.

When I look at this Arsenal squad now, I honestly think she’s got the perfect platform to have her biggest season yet. Our wide players are going to be so important in the way we attack this year. They’re the ones who stretch defences, break lines, isolate full-backs and provide the quality into the penalty area, and Chloe is one of the very best in England at doing exactly that. She already has an outstanding understanding with Alessia Russo through England, she knows exactly where Stina Blackstenius wants the ball, and now you’ve got players like Selina Cerci, Geraldine Reuteler and Georgia Stanway arriving into dangerous areas to attack those deliveries as well. Add in the overlapping runs from Emily Fox, Smilla Holmberg, Taylor Hinds and Ona Batlle, who loves combining in those wide areas, and it really is mouth-watering to think about the possibilities.

For me, Chloe Kelly has the potential to be one of Arsenal’s ceiling-raisers this season, but it all comes back to one thing: keeping her fit. I never like seeing players injured, regardless of what club they play for. Forget rivalries for a moment, these are professional athletes whose careers are incredibly short, and it’s horrible watching somebody spend months unable to do the thing they love. My heart genuinely broke for Chloe last season because every time you thought she was about to get a run of games together, something else seemed to happen. Yet every single time she got up to warm up on the touchline, Arsenal supporters applauded her. Every time she came onto the pitch, you could feel the excitement around the stadium because everyone knew what she was capable of if only she could stay fit.

This summer feels different. It feels like a bridge between what happened last season and what’s about to come. She’s had the opportunity to recover properly, she’s had a full pre-season under Renée Slegers, and from everything we’ve seen on social media she’s been putting the work in long before most players returned to training. That gives me enormous confidence heading into the new campaign.

So if you’re still on the fence about Chloe Kelly, or you’re wondering whether she’ll become a regular starter for Arsenal this season, I’d simply ask for a little patience. Support her in the same way we’ve supported every player who’s had difficult moments in an Arsenal shirt, because I honestly believe we’re about to see a different Chloe Kelly. Not because she’s suddenly become a better footballer, but because for the first time since returning permanently to Arsenal she’s finally had the opportunity to arrive at a new season physically, mentally and emotionally settled.

And if that happens, I really do think we’ll look back in twelve months’ time and say that this was the season we finally saw the very best of Chloe Kelly.