Manchester City Women Break the Bank (Relatively) for Sydney Lohmann, a Midfield Maestro From Bayern Munich

Okay, picture this: it's been raining non-stop in Manchester, the kind of rain where you can't tell if it's still last night's downpour or if today's misery has already kicked off. And in the midst of this, Manchester City Women decide it's high time to make a splash of their own – not in puddles, but in the transfer market, by signing Sydney Lohmann from Bayern Munich. Lohmann, 25, has inked a three-year deal and will join the squad post-European Championship festivities, presumably after she's done making waves on the continent.

Now, for those of you who aren't up-to-speed on your Frauen-Bundesliga statistics (and honestly, who is? There's only so much football a person can watch before their eyes glaze over and they start dreaming of a world without offside rules), Lohmann is quite the catch. Last season, Manchester City Women found the back of the net 14 times in 26 outings, missed 17 big chances (the kind of stat that makes you wince), and had an expected goals (xG) tally of 17.0, which is less 'Manchester City' and more 'team that Manchester City would beat 5–0 on a chilly Tuesday evening in the League Cup'.

Enter Sydney Lohmann, stage left. She's not just any midfielder; she's a 25-year-old dynamo with the sort of pedigree that has Manchester City hoping she can turn those missed big chances into the kind of celebrations that leave fans spilling their pints. Her arrival is the footballing equivalent of finding £20 on a rainy day – unexpected, thrilling, and it makes the dismal weather slightly more bearable.

The financial details of the transfer are as murky as a Manchester canal, but considering Manchester City Women's current market value is pegged at around £39.0m – roughly what a mid-tier Premier League striker might cost, or approximately 3,900,000 Gregg's sausage rolls – it's safe to say they believe Lohmann is worth the punt.

Here's the thing: Manchester's weather is notoriously rubbish, but the city's football is usually anything but. With Lohmann's signing, Manchester City Women are clearly hoping to inject some sunshine into their play, metaphorically speaking. If she can adapt to the relentless Mancunian drizzle as well as she's expected to adapt to the WSL, then City might just have found the solution to their goal-scoring conundrum.

So, as the rain continues to fall and the puddles on the streets of Manchester slowly morph into small lakes, there's a sense of optimism in the air (or at least, there would be, if you could see the air through all this rain). Sydney Lohmann is coming to Manchester City, and with a bit of luck, she'll be bringing a flood of goals with her. Let's just hope she remembers to pack her umbrella.