West Ham United Women are delighted to confirm the signing of Katelin Talbert.
The 24-year-old goalkeeper makes the move to east London after leaving Campeonato Nacional Feminino Champions SL Benfica earlier this summer.
Talbert will head straight out on loan to Swedish Damallsvenskan side, Djurgårdens IF for the remainder of the 2023/24 campaign, subject to international clearance.
Having put pen-to-paper at Chadwell Heath, Talbert is looking forward to getting to work in Sweden and then rejoining the Hammers ahead of the 2024/25 Barclays Women's Super League season.
“I'm very happy to sign with this amazing club and everyone has made me feel very welcome since the moment I arrived," she told whufc.com.
"I’m excited by the opportunity to work hard in Sweden and then be ready to return back to east London next season.
"Playing in the WSL has always been a dream of mine, given it’s a league with such high quality, so I am grateful for this challenge. I couldn’t be more ready to take it on!”
General Manager Aidan Boxall is pleased to secure Talbert's signature having tracked her progress for some time.
"We’re really pleased to have brought Katelin to the Club. She is somebody that we’ve worked with before and have been tracking her progress for a little while now.
"Katelin is heading out to Sweden, where she will accumulate the necessary points to meet the Governing Body Endorsements [GBE] for international player visas, whilst also playing top-flight football at a great club in Sweden.
"Katelin is somebody that we feel will add a lot of depth to our squad and are looking forward to working with her when she returns next summer."
Born in California, Talbert’s footballing career began in her native United States of America where she attended Humboldt State University.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she had a brief spell with California Storm before moving to Iceland for a stint with Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar (FH) in the Icelandic Second Division.
Talbert is no stranger to Chadwell Heath, having trained with the Hammers for a number of months in the autumn of 2021, before heading to Portugal.
After joining Benfica in January 2022, Talbert played 23 matches for As Águias, helping them to clinch two Campeonato Nacional Feminino titles, a League Cup and Portuguese Super Cup.
Talbert also featured for the Portuguese champions in the UEFA Women’s Champions League during the 2022/23 campaign where they picked up six points from their six matches in Group D against eventual winners FC Barcelona of Spain, German club FC Bayern Munich and Swedish side FC Rosengård.
Everyone would like to welcome Katelin to the West Ham United family and we wish her well during both her loan spell in Sweden, and her stay in east London.
