Tottenham Hotspur Women are continuing their raid of BK Häcken with the signing of winger Matilda Nildén to a long term deal. Yes, you read that right – we’re signing Amanda Nildén’s younger sister.
Matilda is coming off a promising season with Häcken, where she registered one goal and five assists in about 1200 minutes – that’s eleven starts and fourteen substitute appearances, according to fbref. She’s just 21 years old, so there’s not too much more info out there about exactly how Matilda Nildén might contribute to Spurs. But Martin Ho seems pretty excited about her potential.
“Matilda is an exciting attacking player with the ability to operate as a winger on both sides,” Martin said. “She plays with pace, bravery and intent, and has the qualities to consistently impact games in the final third. She is comfortable receiving in wide areas, attacking 1v1 situations and making decisive movements in behind.”
The younger Nildén will need to develop and adapt to the WSL, and she’s likely one for the future. But depending on who Spurs bring in, move on and loan out during the rest, she may see opportunities right out of the gate. It’s no secret that Spurs badly need attacking depth, especially on the wing where Matilda plays. Spurs limped into the new year with just one true winger available in Matilda Vinberg (I’m counting Lenna Gunning-Williams and Martha Thomas as more all-purpose forwards since both play in various positions across the front line). We sorely missed attacking depth and variety in the closing stages of both games against Manchester United.
I love how quickly the club is moving to address these obvious squad issues. The transfer window isn’t technically even open yet, and we’ve already announced three deals. It’s awesome, and a huge change from previous years. That said, sometimes I want to remind the club that there are people playing really good football outside Scandinavia. I’d love to see us recruit players from all over the world – the NWSL exists, as does Liga MX and Japan’s WE League, and I could go on! But it’s not even January yet (at least not for a few more hours), so I’ll hold off on passing any serious judgment for now.
I’ll leave you with this. Now you’re all aware that Amanda Nildén has a younger sister named Matilda. According to her Instagram, it seems like our winger Matilda Vinberg has a sister named Amanda. I do not believe she’s playing football, so we probably won’t be signing her. But that’s definitely not going to be confusing at all for anyone involved, right??