KIM Little's assist which gave Arsenal a last-gasp win over Glasgow City on Wednesday night may have been her last contribution for the London club.
The 23-year-old, one of the best midfielders in Europe, has come to the end of her contract and is believed to be considering a number of options. If she moves on it will be a huge blow for Arsenal who, having lost their domestic title to Liverpool, need to win the Champions League to qualify for the 2014/15 competition.
Little's pass to England right-back Alex Scott helped secure a 3-2 win at Petershill Park and eased Arsenal through to the Champions League quarter finals 6-2 on aggregate. They will know their last-eight opponents on Thursday.
Little was only 17 and already a full Scottish internationalist when she joined Arsenal from Hibernian in March, 2008. She scored her first goal against Chelsea in front of 5000 fans at the Emirates the following month and has been a star performer and prolific scorer for the club ever since.
The PFA players' player of the year won her 86th Scotland cap in the 4-0 defeat of Poland in a World Cup qualifier earlier this month and is the top scorer in the squad with 30 goals despite often being deployed in a deeper midfield role for her country. Shelley Kerr, the Arsenal manager, has declined to comment on Little but did say she will be looking to bring in players ahead of the Champions League quarter-finals in March.
"Other teams are closing the gap on us in England," she said. "Arsenal have never signed a foreign player, so that's maybe something we will look to do. The Champions League requires you to be the very best and we need to add strength in every department. Some of the players have been at the club for a long, long time and have been very successful for us, but sometimes you need to look to the future and perhaps we need to look at rebuilding."
Another Scottish internationalist, Jane Ross, is rumoured to be a target. The former Glasgow City striker has also come to the end of her contract with the Swedish club Vittsjo GIK, for whom she has scored 12 goals in 22 league games this season.
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