Riya Mannu will look to fulfil the early promise in her career as she makes a permanent move to Albion Women this summer.
The 19-year-old initially joined the Baggies on loan from Birmingham City during the second half of last season, and her early grounding in senior football will mean she has every chance of replicating her form of last term.
Riya began her career at Blues within their Professional Game Academy (PGA) set-up, where she would go on to spend seven years of her career - alongside occasional appearances for the senior team.
Her first-team debut for the club wasn’t just a momentous occasion for her, and her family, but for all at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park. Mannu became the first South Asian player to represent Birmingham City Women in a league match when she came on as a substitute during their 4-0 win over Reading in March of 2024.
Continuing her rise on the senior stage, the young attacker scored her first senior Blues goal in her first start for the club - a 2-2 draw with Bristol City.
During that same season, she was still impressing for the club’s youth team, and amongst each PGA team, she was named Professional Game Academy Player of the Season for 2023/24.
The following season, she also had a crucial role in securing Blues’ PGA Cup title, when she played alongside now-Baggie Lucy Day to beat Leicester City 4-3 in a thrilling final - crowning them as one of the best academy sides in the country.
But Riya’s early tastes of senior football at Birmingham continued to spur her interest in playing adult football - and she moved to the Albion in February in search of minutes in the FAWNL Northern Premier.
Her Baggies debut came just two weeks later, and it couldn’t have gone much better for the youngster against Rugby Borough - she latched onto Monique Robinsons pinpoint through ball to slip past the onrushing goalkeeper to mark her maiden outing in navy-blue-and-white with a goal.
After notching she told wba.co.uk: “I was just excited to get onto the pitch and play football again. I knew Monique would play that ball because of the quality she has. I like getting forward and running in-behind. The weight of pass (for her goal) was great and I knew I could get on the end of it.”
Mannu cites Albion as a reason she fell back in love with football again, and it’s clear to see why, her eight appearances saw her dazzle tier-three opponents with her dribbling, and she became a crucial part of the club’s decade-best season.
And now she’s here to stay, Riya will look to pick up where she left off in B71 ahead of the exciting 2026/27 season.
