Rosella Ayane


Rosella Ayane is an English footballer who plays as a forward for Tottenham Hotspur. Internationally, Ayane represented England at Under-17 and Under-19 level.

Club career

Chelsea

Ayane started her career with Chelsea after coming through the club's Centre of Excellence. She began in the youth system, in 2012 she was a part of the Chelsea U17 that won the league and cup double. She made her first-team debut in August 2013 against Doncaster Rovers Belles; Chelsea won. Three more appearances followed against Everton, Bristol City and Notts County before Ayane was selected as part of Chelsea's squad for the 2013 International Women's Club Championship, she played twice as Chelsea finished second. On 30 August, Ayane scored four goals against London Bees in the FA WSL Cup in an 8–0 victory.

Loan spells

After making four appearances in all competitions for Chelsea in 2014, Ayane was loaned out in 2015 to Millwall; a team she scored twice against for Chelsea in 2015 in the FA WSL Cup. After a few months with Millwall, she returned to her parent club. 2016 saw a loan move to Bristol City, with whom she made nine appearances and scored three goals in all competitions before returning to Chelsea after Bristol manager Willie Kirk decided against extending her loan. A few weeks after leaving Bristol, she was loaned out as Everton became her fourth career club. She scored her first Everton goal on 17 July in a 3–0 win over Yeovil Town.

Apollon Limassol

In August 2017, Ayane joined Cypriot First Division side Apollon Limassol. She scored on her debut for the club, getting the opening goal in a 4–0 home win in the first match of Group 5 in the 2017–18 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying round against NSA Sofia. On the second matchday, versus Noroc Nimoreni of Moldova, she scored a hat-trick in a 5–0 victory. Ayane followed that up with a goal in the final qualifying group match against Sturm Graz to help advance Apollon into the knockout phase. She netted on her league debut for Apollon on 5 November, scoring the opening goal in a 16–0 win over Champions Ypsona.
In total, she scored nineteen goals in nineteen games in all competitions in her debut season. In April 2018, she was voted into the Players' Team of the Season.

Bristol City

On 18 August 2018, Ayane completed a move to rejoin former loan club Bristol City. One goal in eighteen appearances followed across 2018–19.

Tottenham Hotspur

In July 2019, Ayane moved across the FA WSL to newly-promoted Tottenham Hotspur.

International career

Ayane has played for England at Under-17 and Under-19 level. Between 2011 and 2012 she won seven caps and scored one goal. In 2014, Ayane made her debut for the England U19s and scored the second goal in a 2–0 win. A year later she scored her second goal for England U19s in a 2–2 draw against Norway in a 2015 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualifier, a match that was replayed in extraordinary circumstances after a refereeing error. In total, Ayane made 17 appearances and scored 3 goals for the U17s and U19s respectively.

Career statistics

Honours

;Chelsea