Manchester City and England midfielder Kiera Walsh is set to join Barcelona on a world record transfer fee after both clubs came to an agreement.
With the 25 year-old midfielder only having a year left on her contract with City, they were reluctant to sell but with the circumstances presented, it seems like Barcelona’s final offer was too good to refuse. Barcelona made several offers before a final fee of around €350,000 was accepted. Walsh is keen on the move and ready to make her name as the most expensive female football player.
The deal has now been completed before the Spanish deadline of Wednesday 11pm BST for foreign deals. Manchester City is currently looking for replacements before the WSL deadline on Thursday - the league is set to kick-off this weekend.
Barcelona has held the Spanish title Women’s League for seven years in a row, and won their first Champions League over Chelsea in 2021. They also won the Copa de la Reina in 2021 against Huelva.
91,553 in the Camp Nou 🤯
Barcelona vs. Real Madrid set a new women’s attendance record as 91,553 fans watched Barca beat bitter rivals Real Madrid 5-2 at Camp Nou to reach the Champions League semi-final.
The new record surpassed both the previous club mark of 60,739 fans. pic.twitter.com/Ub0SsNVc91— Her Sport (@HerSportDotIE) March 30, 2022
Walsh has been with Manchester City since July 2014, and since then went on to win in Euro 2022 this past summer, while holding the title of player of the game. She has made 189 appearances with the club and scored eight goals overall. She also represented Great Britain in the 2021 Olympics.
Manchester City just won their match against Luxembourg last Tuesday qualifying for the world cup, which is where Kiera Walsh made her 50th cap for England! City won the FA Women’s League Cup in 2021 and was runners-up for the 2021 Women’s FA Cup.
Walsh is not the only one of England’s players making a switch this summer. Lucy Bronze is going to sign for Barcelona as well, Caroline Weir is joining Real Madrid, Georgia Stanway is going to Bayern Munich, and Jill Scott and Erin White are retiring.
The record used to be held by Chelsea’s Pernille Harder when she moved from Wolfsburg. With allocation fees and trade assets, the final fee for Harder’s trade is undisclosed, but reported to be around €250k-300k.
