Liverpool Women have been very busy in the transfer market so far, signing five players to date, namely Khiara Keating, Mari Ward, Sara Agrež, Mao Itamura and Vivien Endemann. However, on Tuesday morning, the club also confirmed a high-profile departure. It was announced that Leanne Kiernan has departed the club to join Newcastle United on a permanent transfer. This ends the 27 year old's five-year association with the club, where she had become a legend.
Leanne Kiernan's Liverpool legacy
Since debuting for the Reds against London City Lionesses in August 2021, the Republic of Ireland international had made 76 appearances for the Reds, scoring 23 goals. Here is a breakdown of her season-by-season statistics:
Leanne Kiernan's Liverpool statistics
Season | Division | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2021/22 | Championship | 26 | 14 | 2 |
2022/23 | WSL | 2 | Zero | Zero |
2023/24 | WSL | 18 | 5 | 1 |
2024/25 | WSL | 22 | 4 | 1 |
2025/26 | WSL | 7 | Zero | Zero |
Note: All statistics courtesy of Soccerdonna.
Kiernan's most productive and most memorable season on Merseyside was her first, scoring 13 league goals as Matt Beard's team won the WSL Championship title. Overall, she departs as the second-highest scorer for the club in the WSL era, behind only Natasha Dowie.
Sit back and enjoy every Leanne Kiernan goal for the Reds ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/CIsDPuZBzG
— Liverpool FC Women (@LiverpoolFCW) July 28, 2026
The Irishwomen is now heading back to WSL2 to sign for Newcastle United. The Magpies finished sixth in the second-tier last season, but are ambitious, and seeking to gain promotion to the Women's Super League for the very first time. Meantime, Kiernan will also be hoping to fire the Republic of Ireland to next summer's World Cup in Brazil. The Girls in Green are expected to swat aside Kazakhstan in their play-off semi-final in October, before then facing either Belgium or Poland over two legs for a place at the World Cup.
Meantime, what does a post-Kiernan Liverpool look like? Well, the Reds finished second-bottom of the WSL last season, only avoiding relegation because Leicester City were absolutely hopeless, picking up only nine points all season. Fair to say, manager Gareth Taylor will have loftier ambitions than that, have previously been in charge of title-chasing Manchester City for five seasons.
The WSL fixture release is on Thursday, with all the matches being announced at 10am British Summer time. As well as playing games in St Helens, Liverpool will also have matches at Anfield, and an exciting campaign awaits, having made some ambitious signings, namely Manchester City goalkeeper Khiara Keating, as well as striker Vivien Endemann, who has joined from VfL Wolfsburg.
Nevertheless, they will be doing this without one of the club's biggest legends Kiernan, although now did feel as though it was the right time to move on.
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