READING’S latest signing Gemma Davison says her new club were the toughest she faced while playing for Chelsea last season.
And that is no mean feat considering the Blues won a league and FA Cup double, ending the campaign as unbeaten WSL champions.
Those successes add to an already impressive CV for Davison, having won the WSL title with Liverpool and Arsenal as well as spending time playing in the USA before an illustrious four-year spell at Chelsea.
The 31-year-old also has multiple England caps to her name and can be considered a real coup for the Royals.
“I’m excited to get going,” Davison told The Wokingham Paper.
“It’s a nice, fresh start for me.
“Playing against Reading last year, I thought they were the toughest team we faced at Chelsea, which shows they’re going in the right direction.
“We didn’t beat them last year and considering we had a successful season, that shows they were very difficult to play against. I did rate them very highly.”
Reading made a big step forwards in 2017/18, moving away from the foot of the top tier to challenging near the top.
Kelly Chambers’ side eventually finished fourth and reached their first ever cup semi-final before losing late on against eventual winners Arsenal in the Continental Tyres Cup.
And Davison says the Royals are now considered among the country’s elite.
“Everyone can see the quality in how the league is developing over here in England,” she said.
“Every week it gets harder to pick a winner when the top teams play each other and I think Reading have entered that mark now.
“They displayed some upsets last year. We drew with them twice when I was at Chelsea and they beat Man City so the league is becoming a little bit more unpredictable than it ever has been.
“It’s not standard winners anymore, things can change and I think Reading are definitely entering that.
“They could cause an upset or they could dominate a game and it just shows their ambition so you never know what’s going to happen in the league this year.”
She added: “It’s a new challenge for me.
“I know Reading were just short of making a cup final last year, but from what I saw of them last year they were very, very difficult to play against and very creative as well.
“My ambition is always to win everything I can and with what I’ve won it says that for itself and hopefully I can do that with Reading.”
Davison linked up with a host of familiar faces when joining training at Bisham Abbey last week.
As well as knowing Lauren Bruton from her Arsenal days, Davison has played with Fara Williams, Jade Moore and Jo Potter for England.
And with the World Cup on the horizon next summer, Reading’s new recruit admits she’d love to return to the national team set-up after missing out on recent squads.
“Of course I want to break back into the England squad,” said Davison.
“That’s something I think any player would want to do, play for their country and I’ve never, ever said that I didn’t want to.
“I think the most important for me right now is that I just want to be playing football and being happy.
“I believe if you’re happy then you perform and everything else will take care of itself.
“I just want to get comfortable in my new club and then what will be, will be.”
