Welcome to Southampton, Jemma
Saints have completed the permanent signing of defender, Jemma Purfield during the summer transfer window. The 26-year-old defender joins us from Leicester. Another exciting new edition and prospect joining our ranks and bolstering our already strong team, with her strong WSL experience. Looking forward to seeing her in the famous red and white!
Who is Jemma Purfield?
Jemma Purfield is a 26-year-old defender who formerly played for WSL side, Leicester City. Jemma started her career with the famous Doncaster Rover Belles, who are known for bringing through a lot of talent, including that of England international, Millie Bright. Jemma made her senior WSL debut in 2013, making her the Doncaster’s youngest WSL player, unfortunately in that match they lost 4-0 to Chelsea.
In 2014, Jemma moved to newly formed Durham, who we now know very well in the Championship. In that season, Jemma scored 3 goals with Durham finishing 6th in the, then known as, WSL 2 table. After one season with Durham, she moved to America on a college scholarship programme, starting with South Alabama Jaguars and then transferring to Arizona State Sun Devils after 2 seasons. During her time in America, she won several medals including a ‘Freshman of the Year’ and also ‘Player of the Season’ after captaining both teams.
Jemma returned back to England in the 2018/19 where she signed a contract with WSL side, Liverpool, in which she spent 2 seasons with. Her time at Liverpool saw her make a total of 12 appearances for the club. In 2020, Jemma moved to Bristol City, who were in the WSL at the time. During her time with Bristol, she made a total of 27 appearances in all competitions whilst scoring 2 goals. One of these appearances was a League Cup final against Chelsea, in which they finished runners up.
In 2021, after spending one season with Bristol, she made her way to Leicester where she spent her time until today, with her signing for Saints. Her time at Leicester saw her go though the highs and lows of the WSL, the recent relegation fight, to the tough battles with WSL giants, gaining her a lot of experience. Jemma made 20 appearances for Leicester, even bagging herself 2 goals in the process.
After reading all of that, it just goes to show the talent that Marieanne has bought into the squad. She has a heap of experience against all levels and seems to be an exciting prospect in doing so. Also, with all her experience it will be great for our youngsters to learn from. Jemma herself has described herself to be good at set pieces, which we needed to improve on within the squad, so I’m happy we’ve hit ties with that one. We got to see Jemma play on Sunday against Nottingham, and it was a joy watching her then.
Welcome to Southampton Jemma, we are all very excited to have you here as a Saints, we look forward to seeing you play for the mighty red and white!
Read:- @JemmaPurfield and @marieannespacey comments on the Southampton FC website
[information from online sources]
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