Breaking news!! Geyse joins Gotham on a one-year loan

Gotham FC announced today that Brazilian forward Geyse da Silva Ferreira has joined the club on a one-year loan from English side Manchester United FC. The deal also includes an option for a permanent transfer.

“I am very happy and excited to join Gotham FC for this season,” Geyse said via Gotham’s website. “I chose Gotham FC because they have a winning profile and a lot of ambition to win titles. I can’t wait to wear this jersey and enjoy the field with my new teammates. Let’s go Gotham!”

This move comes after a social media post from Geyse on March 2nd where the Brazilian discussed feeling unhappy and burdened at Manchester United. She wrote “Staying in a place where we don’t feel happy is an agonising and lonely feeling. Every day seems heavier, and the simple fact of being there becomes a burden… it is essential to remember that we deserve to be in places and situations that bring us happiness and fulfilment.” The following day, Gotham was reported to have been in “advanced talks” to sign the winger on loan.

Who is Geyse?

Geyse is a Brazilian footballer who primarily plays as a winger. She will be joining Gabi Portilho, Midge Purce, Ella Stevens, Sarah Schupansky, Cece Kizer, Jéssica Silva, Stella Nyamekye, and Khyah Harper in Gotham’s deep attacking winger pool. 

The 26-year-old (27 on Thursday!) has been playing for the Brazil senior national team since 2017 and has scored 8 goals in 56 appearances. On the club side, she has most notably played for Corinthians in Brazil, Madrid CFF and FC Barcelona in the Liga F in Spain, Benfica in Portugal, and most recently Manchester United of the Women’s Super League in England. Throughout her 9-year club career, she has scored 112 goals in 203 appearances across all competitions.

Geyse’s club and international honors include the 2021 Liga F golden boot, which she shared with Asisat Oshoala; the 2022-23 league title and Champions League title with Barcelona; the 2023-24 FA Cup with Manchester United; and the 2022 Copa América with Brazil. The golden boot here is particularly noteworthy, considering she was playing on a bottom-of-the-table team and likely didn’t have a lot of strong attacking talent to help her out.

What does this mean for Gotham? Where will she fit in?

In order to understand where Geyse’s talents lie and what type of role we can expect her to play at Gotham, we need to go back to her breakout Barcelona season.

Manchester United signed Geyse for a club-record transfer fee ahead of the 2023-24 Women’s Super League season following an exceptional performance at Barcelona the year before, where she notched 10 goals and 7 assists across all competitions. If we take a closer look at her statistics from that season, here’s what we find.

When looking at forwards in the 2022-23 Liga F season, she was in the 92nd percentile or higher in the metrics listed above. We can glean that Geyse’s talents specifically lie in dribbling and carrying the ball into the attacking third of the pitch and she seems to be adept at creating chances for others. She also contributes to the defense significantly, particularly for a forward, with her tackles, interceptions, blocks, and ball recoveries, and seems to particularly excel in winning the ball back in the attacking and middle thirds of the pitch.

Geyse’s move to Manchester United was therefore highly anticipated, but she seemed to have fallen short of expectations. In each of her seasons with the club, she has managed only 1 goal and 2 assists. Her supposed decline is sometimes attributed to a poor fit at Manchester United. Geyse alluded to poor mental health and loneliness during her stint at the club in the aforementioned social media post.

When we look at her performance in 2022-23 (her Barcelona season) compared to her performance in 2024-25 (her most recent Manchester United season) in key metrics for attacking players, she has generally seen a dip in form. However, if we take a closer look at her statistics from the 2024-25 Women’s Super League season, we find that she is still in the 93rd percentile or higher in the following statistics.

What this tells us is that even in a slump, Geyse is an incredibly talented player. She seems to fit a profile similar to that of Midge Purce—a player who can drive through defensive lines towards the goal—and will be a useful piece to have on the wing particularly while Midge Purce is still out recovering from last year’s ACL injury. 

Gotham doesn’t need a lot of help in chance creation right now, however. The team’s main issue continues to lie in its finishing. Geyse does not appear to be the answer to that.

In her standout 2022-23 Liga F season, Geyse scored 10 goals and registered 7 assists off of 13.1 non-penalty expected goals (npxG), 5.9 expected assists (xA), and 4.3 expected assisted goals (xAG). Expected assists is the likelihood that a completed pass becomes an assist (i.e. measuring the quality of the assist itself), and expected assisted goals is the expected goals value of an assisted shot (i.e. measuring the value of the chance created). 

Her actual goals being 3.1 lower than her expected goals is indicative of non-exceptional finishing. Similarly, her actual assists being much higher than her expected assists and expected assisted goals tells us that she’s creating good chances, but that her teammates’ finishing was ultimately a large contributor to the eventual goals. 

Statistics don’t tell the full story, however, and Gotham has a reputation for bringing out the best in players, so it will be interesting to see how she performs at the club. It would be unfair to place the burden of solving Gotham’s finishing issues on her shoulders, and even if she only contributes to the team through her already proven strengths (progressing the ball forward, creating chances for others, and winning the ball back in middle/attacking third) she would still be adding an immense amount of value to the team. 

As general manager Yael Averbuch West said on the loan, “Geyse is a dynamic player who brings valuable experience at both the club and international levels.” Time will tell how Geyse fits into this squad, but for now we are optimistic and excited to have her here.