Tinaya Alexander joins Royals on a permanent transfer
Reading FC Women can today announce the permanent signing of Reading-born forward Tinaya Alexander who joins from French side Montpellier.
The highly-rated 23-year-old, who transferred to Montpellier in the summer, becomes Reading’s third signing, having previously announced the signing of defender Easther Mayi Kith and Jade Moore.
Tinaya is a player Reading know well, having already represented in the blue and white hoops at development level between 2007 to 2011.
A dynamic offensive prospect, reknowned for being direct and versatile, and the ability to be deployed across the front line with enormous potential. She signed her first youth deal at Arsenal, and stayed in North London till 2017 enjoying plenty of success, from the 2016 & 2017 FA Youth Cup Final to back-to-back championships in the FA Women’s Super League Southern Development League 2015 & 2016.
As well as making a name for herself domestically, Alexander also was named in the England U-16 & U-17 sides, assisting twice in her debut against Croatia, then followed it up with her first goal two days later against Estonia, playing alongside Alessia Russo (Manchester United), Georgia Stanway (FC Bayern Munich) and Lotte Wubben-Moy (Arsenal).
Whilst away on international duty, Alexander identified the United States as an ideal place to be to take her career to the next level, with the ability to “be in school alongside play football which was really difficult to do in the UK.”
Her destination, Louisiana State University, where she spent four years (2017-2021), and represented LSU on 81 occasions, scoring 74 times with 22 assists, which ranked second in the school’s history. The achievement was later rewarded by being selected 14th overall in the NWSL Draft by Washington Spirit ahead of the 2022 season.
The NWSL Draft (previously known as the NWSL College Draft) takes place every January, where each team within the National Women’s Soccer Year select players who are in their senior year in college.
On March 2022, Alexander made her senior football debut, in a 0-0 draw against Orlando Pride, and featured another eight times before making a switch back to Europe to join Montpellier in September and has since gone on to make five appearances.
Welcome to the club, and back home, Tinaya.