Olivia Smith grew to become the most costly participant in girls’s soccer historical past when she joined Arsenal from Liverpool for a world record transfer fee of £1 million ($1.34 million).
The new benchmark in girls’s soccer surpasses the £900,000 ($1.1 million) Chelsea paid for Naomi Girma from San Diego Wave in January.
“She’s one of the most talented young players in the game and has huge potential for further development here at the club,” Arsenal director of girls’s soccer Clare Wheatley stated.
The 20-year-old Canada ahead signed a four-year deal, an individual with data of the contract instructed The Associated Press.
The individual, who additionally confirmed the record fee, spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of the complete particulars of the transfer haven’t been made public.
Rapid enhance in spending
Smith’s deal highlights the fast enhance in spending in girls’s soccer with transfer data commonly damaged lately.
Zambia striker Racheal Kundananji set a brand new record when becoming a member of Bay FC from Madrid CFF for $788,000 final yr, and that determine was rapidly exceeded by Girma’s transfer to Chelsea, changing into the primary $1 million girls’s soccer participant.
As not too long ago as 2020, the most costly girls’s participant was Denmark’s Pernille Harder, who joined Chelsea from Wolfsburg for $355,000.
England’s Keira Walsh left Manchester City for Barcelona in 2022 for a deal price $513,000, and Chelsea broke the record once more in 2024 when signing Mayra Ramirez from Levante for $542,000.
Neymar’s record in males’s soccer
But these figures are nonetheless a great distance behind the boys’s recreation the place Neymar stays the record signing following his 2017 transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for $262 million.
Kylian Mbappe joined PSG for $216 million and is the second costliest participant of all time.
After one season at Penn State, Smith joined Sporting Lisbon in 2023 and scored 16 targets in 28 appearances. She moved to Liverpool final yr and scored 9 occasions in 25 video games.
Smith can be Canada’s youngest worldwide after making her debut at 15 in 2019.
“Olivia is an exciting young player and we believe she can make a big contribution here at Arsenal,” head coach Renee Slegers stated.
“We’ve been impressed by her mentality and character, excelling in two European leagues at such a young age.” Arsenal is a 15-time English champion and received the Champions League for the second time in its historical past final season.
Despite Chelsea being the dominant pressure in girls’s soccer in England, Arsenal is the one English workforce to win the Champions League.
“It’s my dream to compete for the biggest titles here in England and in Europe and I’m excited to get started and contribute to doing that here with Arsenal,” Smith stated.
