Ashleigh Plumptre’s move to Al-Ittihad adds star power to Saudi Women’s Premier League

There was a sense of deja vu this week as a Saudi Arabia club went to the top tier of English football and signed one of the world’s best players.
Al-Ittihad have recruited Ashleigh Plumptre from Leicester City which means that one of the stars of the women’s game has made the switch from the home of the Foxes in England’s East Midlands to join the Tigers in the port of Jeddah.
With the 25-year-old on the radar of several big European clubs, the signing has whetted appetites for the second season of the Saudi Women’s Premier League which kicks off next month.
Plumptre is a former England youth international who switched allegiance to Nigeria and was one of the stars of the World Cup that ended last month with the Africans losing to England after a penalty shootout in the knockout stages.
“(I am) grateful to have signed for Al-Ittihad,” Plumptre reportedly said. “I am excited to start this journey alongside some incredible human beings.

My journey of stepping into more of myself continues … It’s more than football.”
She joins a Jeddah club on the rise under coach Kelly Lindsay, the former US international who has managed the women’s teams of Afghanistan and Morocco. They have been busy in the transfer market.

As well as the new Nigerian defender, there is Morocco’s Salma Amani — who helped the Atlas Lionesses not just become the first Arab team to play at the Women’s World Cup this summer but also to get to the knockout stage.
Former Swedish youth international Nor Mustafa, who arrived by the Red Sea from Scottish club Hibernian, means that the Tigers will be hoping to mount a title challenge this time after finishing fifth out of eight in the inaugural season. For the city of Jeddah to be home to both the male and