Louise Quinn has admitted she was ‘very, very sad’ to be leaving Arsenal Women this summer.

The Republic of Ireland defender, who made 76 appearances in a three-year spell in north London, will leave the club when her contract expires this summer.

And when reflecting on her time at the club, Quinn told the Irish Times: “It’s a brilliant club and I had an absolutely fantastic time there, but I do want to be playing as much as I possibly can from an Ireland perspective.

“Everything about Arsenal is brilliant, but I didn’t play as much this year which was hard after starting almost every game in a title-winning season. And while I feel I’m very much a team player who contributed a lot, you naturally want to play every game.”

Quinn found game time hard to come by in 2019/20, playing just six games and starting just three of them.

And she was frustrated that she couldn’t say a proper goodbye to her teammates who she has spent the last three years with, adding: “I’ve known for a little while that I wouldn’t be staying at Arsenal, but it’s very, very sad, particularly with the circumstances.

“It would have been nice to say a proper goodbye to the girls. But I’m realistic, that’s football.”

It is not yet known who her next club will be, but Quinn has expressed her desire of staying in England.

“I’m open to everything,” she said. “But ideally I’d like to stay in England. I enjoy the football there, I like living there and it’s close to home. I feel like I had my time away in Sweden which I enjoyed immensely.”

Quinn went on to say how hard it is at this time, adding: “It is a tough time in sport generally and a very unpredictable one in women’s football. The Women’s Super League has made massive strides since the World Cup and it’s great more men’s teams have been backing the women’s sides.

“But when they need to cut, you’d imagine the women’s game is going to be vulnerable. You’d like to think we were getting past that point, but there is a lot of uncertainty right now.”

In the WSL title-winning season of 2018-19, Quinn played 19 of 20 league games and had the second best pass accuracy from any outfield player who played 90 minutes.