We are delighted to announce our sixth signing of the summer in Bethan Davies who joins on a season long loan from Doncaster Belles.
Davies who is a Welsh international goalkeeper has an incredible CV with many high-profile achievements to her name.
At youth level, she started out at the Cambridge United Centre of Excellence and from a young age was on the international scene having been called up to several England training camps.
Her senior career started to take off when she joined WSL 2 side London Bees in 2015 and made her first team debut that year. A major career highlight was reaching the semi-final of the 2016 Continental Cup where they went on to beat Chelsea on penalties with Davies playing a key role within that victory.
Since then, she has had several call ups for the Wales Women’s National team, represented England Universities in the Home Nations tournament in 2017 and after impressing at Leeds Ladies for half a season she was picked up by Doncaster Belles where she has gone on to make a handful of appearances.
Manager Glen Preston commented on the capture of the international keeper:
“We are delighted to have Bethan on board for the season. In the short time she has been at the club she’s already shown her class along with a great attitude. She’s a model pro for sure and we’re delighted to have signed her for the 17/18 campaign.
“It’s great for the club to add a player of such stature and yet again it shows just how much the club has progressed in the last two to three years to be attracting players with such CVs and experience.
“It’s an area we felt we needed to add competition for places as our current number two from last season is still out injured and work occupies a lot of her time and so going into the Premier League this year we felt we couldn’t risk trying to get by with potentially one experienced keeper so we had to look at bolstering our options.
“We do have a great keeper in Beth Seasman so Davies will have to work hard to prize the number one spot from her as Seasman won’t want to give it up without a fight. Saying that, healthy competition is needed all over the pitch and keepers are no different. I think they will help each other develop as they are both very strong in different areas of the game so I feel it’s beneficial for both keepers to push each other & working closely together.
“We’d also like to thank Doncaster Belles and Emma Coates for reaching an agreement with us so swiftly in allowing us to have Davies for the season. I believe Doncaster saw us an ideal choice for Bethan because of the way we play and how we use our keepers, both parties see that Bethan has a big future in the game but she’s now at a stage where she needs experience to ensure that she reaches her potential so this could be a great deal for all involved.”
Davies commented on her move stating:
“Coming off the back of promotion to the Women’s Premier League North, Guiseley are in a great position with an ambitious and driven team of players and staff so I hope I can contribute to the further success of the club.
“They are a great club to be a part of. The girls have all been so welcoming and I’m really enjoying pre-season training, so I know that I’ll be happy here.”