View: Were Tottenham Women right to release Kerys Harrop?
Last Friday (2 June), Tottenham Women announced the departure of five players, which included WSL all-time record appearance holder Kerys Harrop, following the conclusions of their contracts.
Harrop broke the record in April when she made her 178th WSL appearance against Everton. She ended the season with 183 overall WSL appearances with 48 of those coming in a Tottenham shirt.
“It’s an achievement I’m really proud of, [I’ve] been working a long time for it,” she explained to the BBC (13 April).
“I’ve been in the WSL since the start in 2011, so yeah it’s definitely an achievement I’m really proud of.”
Harrop made 59 appearances for Tottenham with her final match coming against West Ham on the last day of the 2022/23 WSL season.
The FA-Cup-winning full-back made 15 appearances during the 2022/23 WSL season as Tottenham finished ninth in the division. However, the stats suggest that Harrop had a strong season and perhaps Spurs could have been better off extending her stay.
As per FBREF, the 32-year-old made 3.89 clearances per 90 which put her in the top one percentile of her positional peers in the WSL.
She also made 3.20 tackles per 90, winning 2.21, while winning 1.30 aerials per 90 which put her in the 93rd percentile.
Her time in North London comes to an end after three seasons with the club, having joined in 2020, but it is hard not to feel as if that time was cut particularly short.
She performed at a high level even in her final season as the stats suggest and her experience could have proved beneficial in and around the changing room for younger members of the squad.
Ultimately, it seems a mistake for Tottenham to let a player with plenty of experience and expertise go so easily.
In other Tottenham news, David Raya could be on his way to Spurs, but is it a good idea?