West Ham United is delighted to confirm the permanent signing of Australian international Emily van Egmond.
The midfielder joined the Hammers on an initial loan move from National Women’s Soccer League side Orlando Pride in August and impressed during her temporary stint in Claret and Blue.
The 27-year-old scored five goals in 12 appearances in all competitions in the first half of the season for West Ham United, establishing herself as one of the season’s early stand-out performers in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.
Van Egmond has now put pen to paper on a permanent deal with the Irons and is looking forward to completing her first campaign with West Ham.
I’m really enjoying my football here at West Ham too, and I’m excited to be working with the new manager. I’m happy to be here with West Ham.
Emily van Egmond
“It’s great to stay here,” Van Egmond told West Ham TV. “I’m really enjoying my football here at West Ham too, and I’m excited to be working with the new manager.
“It’s a great group of girls here. We’ve come in and had a bit of an up-and-down start to the season but towards the back end, before the Christmas break, I thought we were starting to find a bit of consistency.
“We’ve been able to go away and mentally freshen up, and hit the training ground hard with the new manager coming in. The training sessions have been really good with him and the Club has been fantastic too.
“Personally, it’s nice to have a bit of stability during the current circumstances that are going on in the world. I’m happy to be here with West Ham, and I can’t wait to keep going.”
New Women’s first-team manager Olli Harder is happy that Van Egmond has signed permanently with the Hammers and is looking forward to working with the midfielder.
“I’m delighted that Emily has signed on a permanent deal with us,” Harder said. “Emily is a top athlete, a consummate professional, and a footballer who has already proven her ability during her first few months on loan with West Ham.
“Although I have only met Emily in person this week, Emily exemplifies many of the values I am trying to instil in the club and with her talent and drive to succeed I am looking forward to working with her even more as we move forward throughout the remainder of the season.”
Van Egmond has made headlines for her goalscoring efforts for the Irons so far this campaign, with the Matildas superstar putting in match-winning efforts in wins over the likes of Birmingham City and Bristol City in 2020.
The midfielder, for her part, is not overly concerned about her own personal goal tally, so long as the team can perform and continue to earn victories on a consistent basis.
With a hectic start to 2021, Van Egmond is relishing the opportunity to help push the Hammers up the Barclays FA WSL table, and closer to silverware in the domestic cup competitions.
“At the end of the day, I don’t really mins who is scoring the goals,” Van Egmond added. “It’s more so about just getting the wins and for the team to have consistent performances, game-in and game out.
“I think there were a couple of occasions where we showed that, and the key for us now is consistency. We need to start off the second half of the season on the right foot.
“Every game poses a different challenge. You have your top teams and then you also have other, really good sides in that middle pack, and that is what makes it so competitive here. For us, it’s extremely important that we’re getting out of the box early in this second half of the season, get some wins, and climb up the ladder.”
