Kirsty Hanson: Tottenham's Game-Changer in the WSL

Kirsty Hanson does not arrive in the Women's Super League with the fanfare of a superstar import. She arrives with something far more awkward for defenders to deal with: end product.

While the league has welcomed a fresh wave of overseas talent this summer, one of the most significant moves has taken place quietly. Hanson has slipped out of Aston Villa and into Tottenham, and if last season is any guide, Spurs may have pulled off the shrewdest piece of business of the window.

From overlooked to unmissable

At 28, Hanson is not a prospect. She is a finished article sharpening her edges.

Last season she was the WSL’s third-highest scorer, hitting 12 goals in 22 games for a Villa side that never got close to matching her output and finished ninth. Only Khadija Shaw and Alessia Russo found the net more often. Hanson accounted for a remarkable 43% of Villa’s league goals, carried their attack for long stretches and still found the energy to lead the press and track back.

This was not a one-season wonder materialising from nowhere. Her year at Villa was the explosion at the end of a long fuse.

Before Birmingham, she had helped Manchester United build their women’s side into a serious force, then drifted to the fringes as minutes became harder to find. Confidence ebbed away. When Villa took her on loan in 2022, she arrived as a player who needed a reset, not a headline.

She left as their two-time player of the season, with 26 goals in 100 appearances and her belief rebuilt.

“I've got to thank Villa so much. They know that I left on good terms. I really enjoyed my time,” she told BBC Sport, reflecting on a club that helped restore her edge. “Everyone there helped me boost my confidence again. Hopefully, I can just build on that now, but I'm not putting pressure on myself.”

The decision to walk away from that comfort, from a club where she was adored and central, was anything but easy.

“It was obviously a very tough decision to leave Villa,” she said. “But just looking at Spurs, you could see their ambition and each season they have been improving.”

The Ho factor

Ambition alone does not sell a move. The manager often does.

For Hanson, the appointment of Martin Ho at Tottenham was decisive. The pair worked together at Manchester United between 2020 and 2023, when Ho was assistant coach. He knows her game. She knows his standards.

“When they appointed Martin as manager, I think that was a big statement because he is one of the best coaches I've worked with,” she said. Ho, in turn, made her a priority in this window, and Spurs paid an undisclosed fee to get her.

“I know he gets the best out of me with the detail he puts in. I really think that will push me further on in my career.”

That detail matters. Hanson is not just a finisher lurking on the shoulder of the last defender. Last season she had the best shots-on-target ratio (50%) among the WSL’s top five scorers. She also registered 16 chances created — bettered by only two Villa team-mates — and recorded the most touches in the opposition box for the club.

She was Villa’s spearhead, creator and first line of defence. The numbers only underline what the eye test already suggested: this is a forward who works.

Her defensive output backed that up. Among players in her position, she ranked near the top for tackles, interceptions and overall defensive actions. Hanson does not just celebrate goals; she chases lost causes, closes passing lanes and makes life miserable for full-backs.

No wonder Ho pushed so hard.

Spurs’ next step

Tottenham finished fifth last season. Respectable. Not yet enough.

The target is clear: break into the WSL’s top three and reach the Women’s Champions League. That is the level Spurs now speak about openly, and their recruitment reflects it.

Alongside Hanson, they have brought in West Ham’s top scorer Shekiera Martinez, France defender Alice Sombath from Lyon and creative midfielder Victoria Pelova from Arsenal. These are not depth signings. They are players expected to change the temperature of big games.

The message to the dressing room is blunt: nobody’s place is safe.

“It’s going to be tough. I'm not expecting anything,” Hanson said. “My main aim is just to be better because I've got so many levels to go to. Martin knows that as well.”

Competition for the front line will be fierce, but Hanson is not shying away.

“I knew the level of players that were here. I'm just so excited to learn from them. I'm also here to help others, because that's what I've done at every club.”

There is no hint of entitlement in how she talks about her status in the league.

“I'm definitely comfortable [in the WSL] now but I still don't see myself as one of the best. I'm very critical of myself.”

That self-assessment jars with the numbers, but it explains her edge. Players who believe they have “so many levels to go to” after a 12-goal season are rarely satisfied with a good year. They chase the next one.

Built for the grind

Tottenham’s players have already had a taste of Ho’s demands. Hanson, who knew what was coming, has still felt the strain.

“Training's been really tough. It was probably one of the toughest pre-seasons I've done so far,” she said. “Martin is challenging us, trying to push us to our limits. That's what I really wanted, because I needed a challenge. I don't just want to be signed because they think I'm good, I want them to improve me.”

That line sums up why this move makes so much sense. Hanson is not arriving to coast on last season’s numbers. She is walking into a dressing room where the bar is being raised and asking for it to be raised higher.

Her game suits that environment. She brings goals, yes, but also an attitude that managers build around.

“I might not be the most talented but I've got a lot of fight and hunger in me,” she said. “I literally run through a brick wall for my team. Hopefully I've showed them that.”

The data backs up the rhetoric. The work-rate. The pressing. The defensive interventions. Hanson is the kind of forward who forces opponents into mistakes even when she is not scoring, and when she does get chances, she hits the target more efficiently than almost anyone in the league.

A sharper mind, a bigger stage

Off the pitch, Hanson has grown too. She holds a degree in sports coaching and talks like someone who sees the game from a coach’s eye as well as a player’s instinct.

Asked where she has developed most, she pointed to game intelligence and leadership.

“I know what to do at different points in the game. I know how to calm players down,” she said. “Previously when I worked with Martin, I was younger and I wouldn't have been able to cope with that as much. But now I've definitely matured a lot.”

That maturity will matter at a club trying to shift from hopeful to ruthless. Tottenham open their WSL campaign at home to West Ham on 6 September, and expectation will hang over Brisbane Road from the first whistle. Fifth is no longer the finish line. It is the starting point.

Hanson arrives as a proven scorer, a relentless runner and a voice that now knows when to steady a team under pressure. Spurs believe they have signed more than a forward. They think they have found a catalyst.

If she brings last season’s form — and adds the “levels” she insists are still to come — the quietest transfer of the summer might yet make the loudest noise in the race for the Champions League places.