Chelsea bid farewell to Czech attacking midfielder
- Katerina Svitkova leaves Chelsea after two years
- Midfielder's time with Blues plagued with injury
- Seven players have now departed club during summer transfer window
Attacking midfielder Katerina Svitkova has confirmed her exit from Chelsea after penning a deal with Czech Republic side Slavia Prague.
The 28-year-old seemed to confirm her departure from the Blues on social media, ahead of an official announcement from the club. In the post, Svitkova hinted the decision was not mutually agreed, claiming: "Sometimes it’s just not meant to be, even if you want it so much and do everything what you can."
Two hours later, Chelsea confirmed the news of her exit. Svitkova first left Chelsea in February to go on loan to Slavia Prague, where she previously spent seven years from 2013 and won a league title. During her time back at Slavia, she made eight appearances.
Svitkova first joined the Blues from fellow Women’s Super League side West Ham United in July 2022, but endured a difficult first season due to injury.
She made five appearances across all competitions, scoring her first goal for Chelsea in an 8-0 Champions League group stage victory over Vllaznia at Kingsmeadow.
During her first season, Chelsea won the WSL title and the FA Cup, with Svitkova being an unused substitute in the final victory over Manchester United at Wembley.
Svitkova’s departure sees her become Chelsea’s seventh player who’s left during this summer transfer window. The club has bid farewell to Fran Kirby after ten years, as well as Maren Mjelde, Melanie Leupolz, Reanna Blades, Alsu Abdullina and Nicky Evrard.
Chelsea are getting ready to defend their WSL title during the 2024/25 campaign under new head coach Sonia Bompastor, and they are certainly making strides to strengthen their squad even further.
They’ve successfully onboarded Julia Bartel, Sandy Baltimore, Oriane Jean-Francois and left-back legend Lucy Bronze.
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