As Georgia Stanway walked into Arsenal’s training ground last week, a club shirt bearing her name and the number four on the back was waiting for her.When she stepped into the boardroom with her family, she found a box of gifts, including a welcome letter from one of her best friends and now club and country team-mate, England captain Leah Williamson. When a video showed her what Arsenal means to the north London side’s players and fans, Stanway felt deep down that she was in the right place.The 27-year-old midfielder is joining on a three-year deal with the option of an additional 12 months, following the expiry of her Bayern Munich contract.Arsenal signed England international Georgia Stanway to a three-year contract. (Alex Burstow / Getty Images)From 2022 to 2026, she helped win four Bundesliga titles, including two trebles, as Bayern established themselves as the dominant force in the women’s game in Germany.“It’s hard to say goodbye to a place you absolutely love,” Stanway says. But she wanted another level. Home was calling after four years away, and Arsenal’s long-standing interest ultimately helped them beat Women’s Super League rivals and London neighbours Chelsea to her signature.Ahead of her move, The Athletic visited Stanway in Munich in May and spoke to her again before Arsenal’s official announcement.It has been a whirlwind few weeks for their new signing.A trip to Ibiza for England team-mate Ella Toone’s hen do, back to Munich, across to New York to appear on The Rest is Football podcast with her hero Alan Shearer, back to Germany, then over to London to receive her MBE from King Charles before her Arsenal signing day last week. She finally returned to Munich to hand back the keys to her apartment and car before making the move final.“Today’s my last day,” she tells The Athletic over the phone, moments before catching a flight to the UK. “This is my last trip home.”From Manchester to Munich and now returning to England with Arsenal, Stanway takes us behind the scenes of what happens when a footballer moves clubs — and countries.Georgia Stanway sat down with The Athletic to talk about her journey to Bayern Munich and now Arsenal. (Bayern Munich)From ‘down-low’ negotiations to a loud arrival Freezing temperatures gripped Munich at the turn of 2022. Stanway, then a Manchester City player, was on a secret visit. With six months left on her contract, she was free to talk to other clubs. “You want to do everything on the down-low,” she says, looking out over Bayern’s training campus and recalling that first trip four years ago.After the women’s team’s players had gone home, Stanway and a representative from the agency looking after her met women’s football director Bianca Rech. Entering the final months of her City contract, the 23-year-old underwent a medical before touring Bayern’s facilities, the city centre and potential accommodation. It was a day-long, whistle-stop visit, but she wanted to see as much of Munich as possible before making a decision.“It was important to see what home could be,” she says. “I had no idea what I was walking into.”But starting with a blank slate was refreshing.Scouted in her teens by Nick Cushing, now head coach of NWSL side Denver Summit, Stanway spent seven years at Manchester City. In her last one, under Gareth Taylor, the combative midfielder played out of position at right-back. She had only ever seen herself playing in England until Bayern’s interest came out of the blue.“She was a bit underrated. I saw something,” Rech, a former Germany international, says. “She could really bring us to the next level, was ambitious and knew what she wanted. That impressed me.”Stanway became the first English player in the club’s history. “A European champion (with England) coming to Bayern Munich, I never had any doubt,” adds Rech.Very few England Women’s internationals have ventured abroad to a top European club, taking themselves out of their comfort zone, and been so instrumental to their new side’s success. The transfer reignited Stanway’s career, but the transformation was shaped by far more than what unfolded on the pitch.Georgia Stanway had to wait to tell others about her signing with Bayern Munich. (Georgia Stanway and Alexander Scheuber / Getty Images)In March 2022, Stanway was sitting in the Dakota Hotel in Manchester when Rech pulled a contract from her pocket. No one else knew about the move.As Stanway drove on her own to her home in Cheshire, she thought, ‘Wahey, I’ve just signed for Bayern!’“It is weird,” she says. “How do you tell your family what has just happened?”She keeps her parents separate from football decisions.“We left the trust in the good people around her,” says her father, Paul.Stanway leans on her support network, including former Manchester United player Luke Chadwick and Doron Salomon from her agency. “He’s pretty much family,” she says. “I trust his instincts.”Staying tight-lipped about the future is not easy, especially when speculation swirls. “You have to keep it a secret as long as possible,” says Stanway. “It is difficult to lie. You don’t want it to spread fast and start rumours within the team. You don’t want to be a topic of conversation. You want to go about business as quietly as possible.”After City’s 3-2 FA Cup final defeat against Chelsea that May, Stanway piled all of her belongings into a friend’s garage before meeting up with the England squad.A historic summer saw England crowned European champions and, two days after the final, against Germany, at Wembley, Stanway packed her suitcases with just clothes and shoes. The rest of her possessions were left with her parents, while all her memorabilia — shirts, footballs, trophies and three boxes of 90 England caps — were stored in her grandfather’s loft.Stanway flew alone to Munich airport, where Bayern official Nicole Rolser picked her up, took her to the club to do some medical tests before finally dropping her off at her new apartment.Only after lugging her cases into the small lift of the high-rise building, walking into her studio apartment and shutting the door, did it fully dawn on her. “Oh, s***! What have I got myself into? I’d gone from owning my beautiful house to a studio with five suitcases that I’d just bought at TK Maxx.”Straightaway, Bayern travelled to Italy for a pre-season tour. Those first hellos with new team-mates can be awkward. “You don’t exactly know how to make conversation,” Stanway says.Georgia Stanway helped Bayern Munich win four Bundesliga titles, including two trebles. (Pau Barrena / Getty Images)They encouraged her to sing Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline, synonymous with England’s success that summer, as her initiation song, despite her plans to serenade them with Aeroplanes by B.o.B.Arriving at a German club having beaten Germany in the Euros final a couple of weeks prior may have been difficult for some, but not Stanway. “It was the perfect arrival,” she says. “I was high on life. It sounds daft, but I was already respected.”