Lotte Wubben-Moy: the homegrown Arsenal gift who keeps on giving

Lotte Wubben-Moy is not a stereotypical English centre-back. “I’ve always been competing, I’ve always been competitive,” the Arsenal player says, sounding so far, so normal. “But, then again, I’ve always had parts of me that enjoy illustration, enjoy art, enjoy things off the pitch that I hold quite dear to my heart. Things that make me me.”

Football is everything and nothing to Wubben-Moy, so much a part of who she is but not the only part of her. “It’s something that has been really close to my heart throughout my whole life,” she says. “I went to sixth form in Stoke Newington and almost every single person in that school was an Arsenal supporter. Arsenal in the Community was active at that school. I remember cutting the ribbon for the pitch that was opened there.

“So football has very much been intertwined with my life and intertwined with things off the pitch. But then the things off the pitch have also very much contributed to my successes and who I am on the pitch.”

It is this view of football, of its holistic potential and power, that inspired the 23-year-old to come to the table for contract renewal talks with more than money, contract length and football in mind. Friday’s confirmation of an extension, the length undisclosed, came with a twist.

“As part of her new deal,” an Arsenal announcement said, “Lotte has also committed to working closely with Arsenal in the Community over the coming years to give back to the local area where she grew up and still lives.”

The England international, who has seven caps, is not just involving herself in existing community projects but has, with the club, drafted into her contract a 12-week programme that will run four times a year, inspired by her passions and aimed at women