Seen that transfer rumor for at least a month. When I first saw it, the fee was something like 750,000 Euros. This, I think, would be the surprise of the summer.
I am laughing at the Kerolin stuff (mostly Reddit). Apparently some journalist in Brasil has it that the transfer is happening. Only it's nearly 24 hours later. I'm suspecting that this might be Kerolin negotiating a new contract in lieu of Shaw getting a massive pay raise.
It seems she has lowered her demands. Her salary would be around 75 kE/month (like Chawinga, Melchie and... Katoto ).
Remina Chiba (Eintracht Frankfurt) -------------------------------- > Juventus FC Kadidia Traore (Sassuolo) -------------------------------------------- > Paris FC Julie Mathiasen (Aarhus) ---------------------------------------------- > FC Rosengard Katie Bowen (Inter Milan) --------------------------------------------- > Fenerbache SK Francesca Durante (Inter Milan) ------------------------------------- > Como 1907 Freja Siri Olofsson (Madrid CFF) ------------------------------------ > Como 1907 Vania Duarte (Valadares Gaia FC) ---------------------------------- > FC Porto Jutta Rantala (Leicester City) ----------------------------------------- > Everton Misa Rodriguez (Real Madrid) ---------------------------------------- > Arsenal Ksenia Konanova (AP Diamonds Academy) ---------------------- > Pogoń Szczecin Alimata Belem (SD Eibar) --------------------------------------------- > Washington Spirit (on loan in Eibar till end of the year) Aleksandra Gajić (Saint-Etienne) ----------------------------------- > FC Fleury Eseosa Aigbogun (Strasbourg) -------------------------------------- > Como 1907 Holly McNamara (Melbourne City) ---------------------------------- > Everton
Yes, it's actually quite exciting: I am very curious about what an ambitious newly promoted team can do.
Alexa Spanstra (Portland Thorns) ---------------------------------> Utah Royals (loan turned into transfer) $25,000 plus contingent $12,000
Confirmed https://www.ol-lyonnes.com/actualites/salma-paralluelo-rejoint-les-lyonnes-jusquen-2030/ Geez, if she starts every match, she's going to score 50 goals a season.
Laila Harbert (Arsenal) ---------------------------> San Diego Wave Khyah Harper (Gotham FC) -------------------------> Houston Dash (trade)
WSL getting rich by selling another NWSL wash-out: Kerolin (Man City) ---------------------->FC Barcelona (Euros 1.5 Million)
Wow! Gotta say, that is probably one of the most surprising transfers in WoSo, at least in the past few years.
There's an arms race going on in the big clubs in Europe. Barca sees their domestic rival Real Madrid buy some young talent. WSL rivals are getting some of Barca's players for free, also Lyon get one, London City as well, so Barcelona overpays to get an important City player who City might have wanted to keep. Kerolin isn't the best player in the world. No team wants to hold on to a player if that player wants to play somewhere else. Wasn't Barcelona bound to pick-up some big name(s) after losing so many? The transfer market fees are going up, helped along by NWSL being able to pay high fees and demanding high fees for its players. It's also growth in the recognition of value of talent which apparently had long been suppressed. My first thought was that Kerolin is a sorta Barcelona class player, who could benefit from playing on such a good team.
I'm wondering if/why Barca was OK with all the prominent players who've left the squad. Did it try to extend the contracts of any of them, feel like they're past their prime thus be willing to lose them---or what? Kerolin isn't the best player in the world but she is very good and underrated. I've seen her quite a bit--and she is speedy and dynamic, and was involved in creating scoring chances for ManCity almost every time she entered a match. She's definitely a loss for City--but her salary demands might have been too much for a club that's already opened the checkbook wide for Bunny Shaw and that has a lot of other big-name players, meantime Barca was showing serious interest in the player.
My interpertation is that Barca were not willing (able?) to open their check book. Paralluelo, as I understand, asked for a wage that Barca were not willing to match. My guess is that Putellas was probably similar, though more mutual in this case. Both Mapi and Batlle I interpert similar to Paralluelo, though not as high of an ask. And there definitely is an arms race in the WSL, which makes the sale of Kerolin confusing. Related, I saw an article over the weekend that mentioned that the WSL have no formal wage fair play rule in place, thus if teams are willing, they can pay high wages to attract players. Not sure how true that is (I haven't found anything to deny that), which means that it is up to the leadership of the clubs how ambitious they want to be. When Man City re-signed Shaw to that large contract, I thought that indicated their ambition. Maybe not. In the end, this is my overall interpretation. From what I've seen, she is a very good player and a prominent member of the Man City attack. Her wage ask must have been outrageous that Man City wanted to cash in as it doesn't meet the rest of their moves this summer (meaning shoring up the team).