West Ham United Women is delighted to complete the signing of 20-year-old goalkeeper, Anna Leat, subject to international clearance.
The New Zealand international joins the Hammers after returning from the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
She made her debut for her national team at the tender age of 15 – facing off against Austria in 2017. Heroics followed whilst playing for the Football Ferns, as she scored the winning penalty at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup against Japan to send her country to the semi-finals.
Leat has made four appearances for the New Zealand national team and started against the USA at the Olympics.
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And the goalkeeper is delighted to start the next stage of her career here in east London:
“I’m so excited to join West Ham. The whole experience of coming here has been pretty unreal and it’s been something I’ve really been looking forward to for a long time now. I’ve definitely been putting in the hard yards to get to this point so it’s an awesome feeling to finally be here.
“I’m British on my dad’s side and I’ve always wanted to live in England, the opportunity came up and it was perfect. I’ve been wanting to make the jump to a pro league and this is the best in the world so I’m delighted to be at West Ham.”
Olli Harder is pleased to welcome Leat to West Ham United:
"Anna is somebody that we've been monitoring for some time. She's a young goalkeeper with a lot of International experience for someone of her young age.
"She will add tremendous value to our goalkeeping department and will bring lots of energy to the changing room.
"I believe that she is somebody who has a great mentality and fits into the culture that we are creating here at West Ham."
Born in Arrowtown, an historic gold mining town on the South Island of New Zealand, Leat began her career with East Coast Bays – a side from the northernmost part of Auckland.
In 2019, Leat started studying at Georgetown University and joined the Georgetown Hoyas as a freshman. She appeared 18 times and only conceded 19 goals during her debut season.
She returned to New Zealand when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, training with the Future Ferns Development Programme with the national team before jetting off to the Olympics this summer.
Everyone at West Ham United would like to welcome Anna to the club and wish her well whilst here in east London.
