We knew it was unlikely that Maika Hamano would be allowed to stay at Tottenham Hotspur Women beyond her loan spell, and now the club have confirmed she’s on her way back to Chelsea.
Hamano was brought in for attacking firepower after Jess Naz’s December ACL injury, but that’s not to say she was just some kind of backup. She has real superstar potential, and I’m disappointed we won’t get to realize that at Tottenham. Hamano played ten games for us and registered a goal and an assist. She missed a few games while she was away winning the Asian Cup with Japan along with our favorite centerback, Tōko Koga. I’ll miss seeing them do joint media with the club almost as much as I’ll miss Maika’s trickery.
It’s clear Martin Ho will miss Hamano’s impact as well. “Thank you for everything over the last six months,” Ho said in an Instagram story. “Your quality on the pitch has been clear, but the person you are every day has had just as big an impact. Your humility, standards, professionalism and energy have been unbelievable for our environment and our team. It has been a real pleasure to work with you. Wishing you nothing but success back at Chelsea, you’ll always have people here supporting you.”
Maika had just as many nice things to say about Spurs. “Thank you for everything,” she wrote. “Grateful for the opportunity to represent Tottenham on loan. Thank you to my amazing manager, the coaching staff, everyone behind the scenes, my teammates, and the lifelong friends I’ve made :) I’ll never forget this chapter. Wishing you all the very best for the future.”
All that said, I can’t say I’m not pleased to see some thinning out in the center of the pitch. Maika is, like many of our players, more comfortable in the center of the pitch even though she can be deployed on the wings. I’m not too sure the players we’ve brought in in attack really have any more wide threat, but we’ve got a long way to go until the season starts back up so I remain hopeful. In any case, we’ve brought in a lot of fresh talent that will hopefully fill the Maika-shaped hole in our hearts.
Spurs also announced, along with the news about Maika, that Anna Csiki and Martha Thomas had returned from their loans at AS Roma and Liverpool respectively. Anna won Serie A Women with Roma, featuring in eight matches and grabbing one assist. Martha had a decent season for Liverpool, helping them climb out of the bottom of the table with a goal in the league (and a goal and an assist in the FA cup). I don’t imagine there’s much of a place for either player at Spurs right now, so stay tuned to find out where they might head off to next.