Rafaelle Souza: Arsenal defender will leave the club this summer confirms manager Jonas Eidevall
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Rafaelle Souza joined Arsenal from Palmeiras in 2022 and has made 31 WSL appearances
Arsenal defender Rafaelle Souza will leave the club this summer, manager Jonas Eidevall has confirmed.
The 31-year-old Brazil captain has been with the Women's Super League side since January 2022.
Rafaelle has been key for Arsenal this season, helping them win the League Cup and reach the Women's Champions League semi-finals.
"For reasons that were beyond our control, she will leave," Eidevall said on Friday.
Her final game for Arsenal will be on Saturday, when the Gunners conclude their WSL campaign at home to Aston Villa.
A point will mathematically secure a top-three finish for Arsenal and qualification for the Champions League again next season.
Eidevall was full of praise for Rafaelle in his pre-match media conference, and said: "She's had such a high level, she's been so consistent, and I'm so pleased for us that we've had a player like her.
"We've been very happy with her, she's been very happy playing with us here as well.
"She's sad for it [leaving], we're sad for it, but I really cherished the memories we had with her, I want to thank her for all the contributions she made to the club, and I hope she can have a really strong performance tomorrow and we can have a really nice sending off."
Rafaelle has been especially key in keeping Arsenal defensively secure amid a series of serious injuries to key players, including Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead and captain Leah Williamson.
Replacing Rafaelle will be another task in a crucial summer of recruitment ahead for Arsenal, with Eidevall admitting recent moves in the transfer market have not gone according to plan - most notably when they had bids for Manchester United striker Alessia Russo rejected in January.
Eidevall said: "It has to be a very big transfer window for us, especially given that both last summer and the winter window was not good enough for us and we didn't get our targets in the way we wanted. So we have to get that right this summer."