Newcastle United Target Leanne Kiernan from Liverpool

Newcastle United are in advanced talks to prise Republic of Ireland forward Leanne Kiernan from Liverpool, in what would be a statement signing for the second-tier club.

Kiernan, 27, still has more than a year left on her Liverpool deal and signed an extension in 2025, so Newcastle are expected to pay a fee to get the deal over the line. For a side gearing up to chase promotion from the Championship, it is a bold play.

A proven finisher, Kiernan has scored 23 goals in 76 appearances for Liverpool and was central to their surge back to the top flight. She spearheaded the Reds’ 2022 WSL 2 title win, finishing as the club’s top scorer with 14 goals and driving an attack that simply overpowered the division.

Her route to Merseyside came via West Ham, where she made more than 40 WSL appearances after breaking through at Shelbourne. That grounding in both Irish football and England’s top tier has shaped a forward who presses hard, runs relentlessly and knows how to handle physical battles.

On the international stage, Kiernan has collected 38 caps for the Republic of Ireland since her debut in 2017, a steady presence across multiple qualifying campaigns. She arrives with experience of big occasions and the demands of international football, attributes Newcastle’s dressing room could lean on in a promotion push.

Yet for all that pedigree, her Liverpool career has stalled. Under Gareth Taylor she has struggled for minutes, starting just once in the WSL last season before heading out on loan to Nottingham Forest in January for the second half of the campaign. While that move brought game time, it also underlined her slipping status in a Liverpool attack being reshaped.

That reshaping has continued this summer with the arrival of Germany forward Vivien Endemann from Wolfsburg, further crowding the forward line and pushing Kiernan closer to the exit.

Newcastle are ready to pounce.

The club have already had a busy window, bringing in six new faces as they build a squad capable of mounting a serious WSL 2 title challenge. Kiernan would add exactly what ambitious promotion contenders crave: proven goals, top-flight know-how and a forward used to carrying responsibility in big moments.

If the deal is completed, it will not just be another addition. It will be a clear signal that Newcastle intend to move quickly through the divisions – and that established WSL players now see that project as worth leaving Liverpool for.