Having won 'Toppserien Golden Boot' two years in a row and Toppserien Player of the Year for 2018, Guro Reiten landed in London for the 2019/20 season with Chelsea. She was a back-to-back league winner in the Norwegian league LSK Kvinner. With her standout performances and big game moments for Chelsea so far this year, she is easily the signing of the season in Women's Super League and one of the best signings this season in the whole of women's football.
Player Profile:
Date of birth: 26 July 1994
Place of birth: Sunndalsøra, Norway
Height : 1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Playing position(s): Midfielder/Left Winger
Club Career:
Throughout Reiten's childhood, her mother, Iren Olsen, played football at the highest club level in Norway. It was her who ignited Reiten’s love of the game from a young age. She started her senior career with her local side Sunndal which plays in the second division of the Norwegian football. Her skillset needed to be displayed on a larger scale, so she left home when she was 16 and joined Kattem IL in 2011, her first season in Norway's top league, the Toppserien. During her year-and-a-half spell with Kattem, she made 35 league appearances and scored 11 goals, becoming the club's 2012 top scorer. After Kattem pulled out of the Toppserien, Reiten then joined Trondheims-Ørn in 2013. During her four seasons with Trondheim's, Reiten made 82 league appearances and scored 25 goals. With Trondheims-Ørn, she also reached the final of the 2014 Norwegian Women's Cup.
Keeping in trend with her progression, she then moved to long-successful side LSK Kvinner for the 2017 season. At LSK Kvinner, she made 72 appearances and scored 61 goals. She won three consecutive titles with them along with the individual honours. She won the Toppserien Golden Boot for two years in a row and Toppserien Player of the Year for 2018. Her accolades and accomplishments didn't go unnoticed as top European clubs were waiting for her signature. Chelsea WFC acquired her services by the end of May 2019 ahead of the Women's World Cup.
International Career:
Guro broke into the Norway national team team, making her debut at 19 years old against Spain in 2014. Reiten has represented Norway at all youth international levels. She was a member of the Norwegian squad at UEFA Women's Euro 2017 and the team that went on to win the 2019 Algarve Cup. She scored her first goal for Norway against Portugal in 2017 Algarve Cup. She was also part of the Norwegian 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup squad as well and was rightly awarded "Woman of the Match" for her performance against Nigeria in the group stage. Eventually, Norway lost to England in the Quarterfinals, exiting the World Cup.
Technical Profile:
Guro, first and foremost, is a pass master. Her primary task is to sit at the front of midfield and conduct play from deep, linking with teammates, protecting possession and moving her side up the pitch. With her superlative technique and sharp vision, Reiten is capable of spreading play over all areas of the pitch and can conjure scoring chances for Chelsea’s forwards when at her best, moving the ball forward with speed. It’s her work down the flank and her creative ability that sets her apart and has made Chelsea tick this season.
Guro Reiten is the type of player who usually plays in an attacking midfield position or on the left-wing. She can play creative roles as well, as she has the ability to play a fantastic pass and create a lot of chances for her teammates. She is known for a great range of passing, a good first touch and a good awareness of what is happening around her. Her composure in the attacking half makes her one of the games finest midfielders. Reiten stays composed at all times, touches the ball often and gets herself involved a lot in the match. She keeps a cool head and chooses the right pass at the right time to retain possession. It's her all-round technical ability that sets her apart.
She can play those through balls that dissect the defense. She can get into the final third of the pitch and put those sleek passs. There are few sweeter sights in world football than watching Guro glide past defenders with her superb close control and perfect balance. She can play both as a deep-lying midfielder and an advanced midfielder who can bring the ball out of defence and look for long-shot opportunities as well as supplying through-balls.
She is the heartbeat of this Chelsea's team, driving forward with the ball to spearhead attacks as well as tracking back to cover defensively, always offering a passing option to teammates. Reiten often looks to pick the ball up in deep positions and work the ball forwards with urgency, all the while keeping up with play. You can see her camping on the edge of the penalty area looking for room to shoot or to try that killer ball which creates a goal-scoring opportunity.
Her season so far with Chelsea:
She has already made 15 appearances with Chelsea contributing to 13 goals including 8 assists. She is Chelsea's leading chance creator with 34 chances created from the open play so far. The match Chelsea won 4:1 against Arsenal away displayed her talents to the fullest. She was tormenting Arsenal on the left side and was rightly awarded a goal due to her efforts. She was the catalyst to Chelsea's victory. Pundits talk about Beth England and Sam Kerr, but it was Reiten who made the team click. Additionally, her partnerships with Jonna Andersson and Ji have caused opposition players all sorts of problems in WSL this season.
Why she signed for Chelsea:
"It's different at Chelsea. It's fun to achieve the dream of being a professional footballer and to not have any worries outside of football, and to only focus on what happens on the pitch. I love it. It's been a dream, and it's great to have everything available. Everything is in place so that the team and I can be as good as possible. That's what we wish for, and it's fantastic to have it."
This year, Reiten has the WSL title in her sights, and for next season, there are even shouts for Chelsea to be UWCL contenders. With Chelsea doing great transfers with Sam Kerr and Melanie Lepouz since January, they are daring to challenge for all the titles this season. Guro Reiten is going to play an important role for Chelsea to get the titles within their sight. Reiten has proven to be the missing piece needed at Chelsea. She is the player that every club would love to have.
Some of the best moments of Guro Reiten for Chelsea this season, you can find it here.