Ayaka Yamashita, a goalkeeper from Japan, has joined Manchester City on a three-year contract from INAC Kobe.
The 28-year-old is joining a club from outside of her native nation for the first time.
As for Yamashita, she stated she is “very hungry” and excited by the prospect of competing in the premier league of England.
“I’ve won various trophies in Asia, but to level up myself I felt the need to take on a challenge,” she stated.
“It’s a famous club that everyone knows, and even now, it feels unbelievable to me.”
Yamashita, who played with City midfielder Yui Hasegawa at Tokyo Verdy, has featured 74 times for her country and has won 17 major honours during her career.
She is the Women’s Super League club’s third Japanese signing of the transfer window following the arrivals of Risa Shimizu from West Ham United and Aoba Fujino from Tokyo Verdy.