Midfielder Chloe Peplow signs for Royals

Former Birmingham, Brighton and Spurs midfielder joins the club

We are pleased to announce the arrival of midfielder 22-year-old midfielder Chloe Peplow, who joins Reading FC Women ahead of the new season.

The Redditch-born midfielder joins after the expiration of her contract with Tottenham Hotspur, where she spent the past two seasons.

Peplow made 22 appearances in all competitions for Spurs during her time in North London – including playing a majority of the match at Adams Park when the Royals overturned a deficit to run out 3-1 winners in December 2019.

She began her career with Birmingham City, where she progressed through the academy ranks and helped the Blues to win the FA WSL Development League Cup in 2015. Later that year, she made her pro debut as a 16-year-old by starting in a Continental Cup win at home against Oxford United. And then three weeks later, she earned her WSL bow at Bristol City, replacing Remi Allen from the bench.

final in 2016 and the FA Women’s Cup final at Wembley in 2017, both against Manchester City – and a spell on loan at Doncaster Rovers Belles, Peplow made the move to WSL 2 outfit Brighton & Hove Albion in the winter of the 2017-18 campaign.

On her fifth appearance in Brighton colours, she netted her maiden senior goal – opening the scoring in a 2-0 win against future employers Tottenham – and made 11 appearances in the second half of the campaign to help the Seagulls to promotion to the Women’s Super League. After a further 18 appearances in league and cup the following year, Peplow was signed by newly promoted Spurs.

Royals boss Kelly Chambers said: "I’m delighted to bring Chloe to Reading with losing the likes of Haz and Fara, it was important for me to get a player that is comfortable on the ball in those areas and I believe Chloe brings those attributes.

"I don’t believe anyone has seen the best of Chloe yet, so I am excited to push her to new levels. Chloe is a young player with a lot of experience at this level but she knows that she still has plenty to learn and she is hungry to do that.

As well as gaining domestic experience, Peplow also arrives with a wealth of international appearances; the midfielder earned a total of 33 international caps for England’s youth sides between Under-17 and Under-21 level. That included scoring a critical spot-kick in a shoot-out in the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup third-place match, helping the Lionesses to defeat hosts France in 2018.

With a variety of experience at a tender age, Peplow is now a Royal as preparations begin for the 2021-22 campaign.