Chloe Kelly says Arsenal return saved her career: 'I was ready to take a break from football'
Chloe Kelly has revealed she considered stepping away from football before her loan return to Arsenal in January.
The England international played a key role as Arsenal clinched Champions League glory for the first time since 2007 on Saturday, Stina Blackstenius scoring the only goal as the Gunners beat Barcelona 1-0 in Lisbon.
Kelly joined Arsenal's academy in 2010, making her professional debut five years later before joining Everton and later Manchester City.
Her stay at City turned sour this season as she was often relegated to the bench after falling out with then-manager Gareth Taylor, and she rejoined Arsenal on loan in January.
Kelly has been on fine form since returning to north London and has revealed she had considered quitting the sport while at City.
'I was ready to take a break from football completely,' she said. 'I'm just grateful.
'As soon as I stepped foot in this club, I found happiness. Renee Slegers, as soon as she got on the phone to me, to give me the opportunity to represent this badge, I wanted to repay her.
'From being in such a dark place to now, it's crazy.'
Kelly becomes a European champion for the second time in her career after winning Euro 2022 with the Lionesses.
A free agent in June, she could soon return to Arsenal on a permanent basis.
'If it's my last game for the club, I'll forever be grateful. I know I've given my all to Arsenal football club, and Arsenal football club has given their all to me,' she said.
'They gave me an opportunity to step foot on the pitch and find happiness. It's not about football at times. No matter what happened today, the club gave me happiness.'
Kelly added: 'It's been a journey. Me and Lotte [Wubben-Moy] used to get the underground to Finsbury Park, Finsbury Park to Potters Bar. Potters Bar, we used to get off and get a bus and get off at the M25 bridge and walk to the training ground.
'To do it with these girls is so good. Players that I've played with growing up, Leah [Williamson], it's amazing. You see the journey that everyone is on.
'Arsenal have always paved the way for women's football and we continue to do so. They are the ones that allowed us to be here today.'
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She said that if the defense theory was true that she was asking McLeod to ask his teammates to come over for group sex — and wanting to engage in group sex — Raddysh and Katchouk's testimony defies logic. Advertisement 'It would make no sense she would make absolutely no effort to engage or attempt to engage with Mr. Katchouk or Mr. Raddysh, not a single offer,' Cunningham said. Cunningham also pointed out that the testimony of both Raddysh and Katchouk differed significantly from other witnesses about E.M.'s behavior that night. Crown witnesses Tyler Steenbergen, Brett Howden and defense witness Carter Hart all testified that E.M. was the aggressor, asking players to have sex with her and insulting them when they declined. When Carroccia pointed out this divergence in stories, Cunningham replied: 'I agree these things are irreconcilable and someone's not telling the truth,' Cunningham said. 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Cunningham cited McLeod's phone call to Hart, his recruitment of Katchouk from the hallway and his knocking on Raddysh's door as evidence of this. '(E.M.) was doing nothing either verbally or through her actions to communicate that she was at all interested in engaging in sexual activity with them,' Cunningham said. 'But the evidence does establish that someone was offering sex to Mr. McLeod's teammates in Room 209 and it wasn't (E.M.).' Advertisement Cunningham ended with the fact that by McLeod's own admissions, he said he was consistently checking in on her throughout the night, telling Detective Newton in his 2018 interview that he and his teammates had a 'no phones' policy and that at one point he 'calmed her down' because he said she was upset no one was having sex with her. Cunningham said McLeod was intervening to 'take some responsibility for managing the room' while all the events were unfolding. 'The reason he is doing that is because this was his idea to begin with,' Cunningham said. 'He set this up.' Earlier in the day, the defense teams finished their closing arguments. Julianna Greenspan, who represents Foote, said that her client performed the splits over E.M. as a 'party trick' that was both 'non-threatening,' not sexual and a 'momentary interaction.' Foote is accused of doing the splits over E.M. while she was lying on her back, grazing his genitals over her face. Greenspan said that E.M. was seeking sexual encounters and attention and that Hart's testimony that she was laughing was 'consistent with her performative behavior in the room generally.' 'In plain language, Mr. Hart's evidence was, this was in a playful manner, this was a playful trick, and (E.M.) was absolutely in on it,' Greenspan said. Greenspan spent significant time returning to the issue of E.M. referring to the players as 'men' throughout her testimony, painting the decision as intentional. Greenspan hammered this point repeatedly in cross-examination, but reinforced on Wednesday that E.M. had 'an axe to grind.' Greenspan undermined the credibility of Crown witnesses Brett Howden and Tyler Steenbergen, both of whom said Foote asked in a phone call to leave his name out of what happened in the hotel room prior to the players' participation in the Hockey Canada investigation. Advertisement Greenspan said Howden was in 'protect Howden mode' and suggested that Steenbergen was influenced by Henein Hutchison investigator Danielle Robitaille in his 2022 interview with Hockey Canada; she described that as 'an investigation intended to support and corroborate the complainant's civil lawsuit, one that Hockey Canada had just settled.' Greenspan ended her closing argument by suggesting that the intense level of publicity and interest in the case has compromised the presumption of innocence and subjected the players, their families and their legal teams to unfair treatment, such as bullying and taunting. Lisa Carnelos, attorney for Dubé, finished her closing submissions on Wednesday by arguing that her client did not engage in any collusion via the group chat he participated in with teammates on June 26, 2018 — 'This is the most lame attempt at collusion I've ever seen in my life,' she said — or in either of the phone calls he had with Tyler Steenbergen and Brett Howden. She explained the group chat as 'the banter of young men' who were 'confused' and 'expressing nervousness and shock.' Carnelos described the phone calls Dube had with both Howden and Steenbergen prior to the Hockey Canada investigation — asking them to leave his name out of interviews with Hockey Canada about the incident — as 'innocuous,' and 'context specific.' (Steenbergen testified that Dube asked him not to mention what Dube did in the room to investigators, adding that he wanted to speak for himself. Howden previously told investigators that Dube made the same request of him.) Carnelos suggested it was 'reasonable' that the call was about Dubé's desire to call Hockey Canada staff member Shawn Bullock to tell Bullock himself about what happened. Carnelos also suggested that the Hockey Canada and London Police reopened their investigations as a result of a 'media frenzy' and described the situation as a 'political hot potato.' — The Athletic's Dan Robson contributed reporting remotely from Toronto. (Courtroom sketch of Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham and Justice Maria Carroccia from earlier in the trial by Alexandra Newbould / The Canadian Press via AP)
