Inside WSL2: Lucy Newell Player Profile

18 year old defender, Lucy Newell, has joined Birmingham City on loan ahead of the 25/26 WSL2 season.

Club Career:

Newell spent her youth career at West Bromwich Albion before going on to sign dual registration, with Manchester United.

In October 2024, on Newell’s 18th birthday, she put pen to paper and signed her first professional contract, joining the Red Devils.

However before signing her first professional contract, Newell was amongst Manchester United’s under-21 league winning side during the 2023-2024 campaign.

Newell went on to win the Club’s Women’s Player of the year award.

Despite, having signed for the first team the start of 2025 saw Newell gain valuable experience as she joined Blackburn Rovers, on loan, in the Women’s Championship (now known as WSL2).

Newell went on to gain ten appearances, one goal and inevitably helped Blackburn stay up and avoid relegation.

Ahead of her next loan move, to Birmingham City, Newell has already gained valuable experience in the competitive WSL2 league and has trained regularly alongside her WSL mother-club, Manchester United.

International Career:

Newell has not only represented England at multiple youth-levels, under-16s, under-18s and under-19s, but has also previously captained the Young Lionesses.

Most recently, in June, Newell was part of the team who played in the under-19s who participated in the Women’s European Championship.

Having featured in all three of England’s matches, Newell was a key member who helped the Young Lionesses secure a place in the 2026 under-20s World Cup.

However the team missed out on progression to the knockout stage of the Euros following two loses and only one win, in a difficult group featuring Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.

Newell at Birmingham:

Having placed second in the league last season and narrowly missing out on Promotion to the WSL, Birmingham will be aiming to secure one of the promotion spots available.

Her captaincy experience and international caps will hopefully stand Newell in a good position in the Birmingham squad, where she will be hoping to gain further experience to bring back to Manchester.

Newell and Birmingham City being their WSL2 campaign on Sunday 7th October against Bristol City, at St Andrew’s.