\u201cIf anyone didn\u2019t take our ambition seriously, I hope they really do after this window, because it shows what we\u2019re pushing for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amy Merricks was answering a question about Birmingham City breaking the second-tier transfer record to sign Wilma Leidhammar<\/a> from Norrk\u00f6ping, but the head coach\u2019s words could easily sum up the English January transfer window as a whole, as teams in the Women\u2019s Super League, and in WSL2, demonstrate where the financial power lies in the women\u2019s game.<\/p>\n Birmingham are understood to have paid about \u20ac315,000 (\u00a3273,000) to sign the attacking midfielder. As recently as the summer of 2022, this would have been a world-record fee. In the three-and-a-half years since, valuations for women\u2019s players have risen sharply but, even in January 2026\u2019s market, this is still a hugely significant level of investment in a young player. It is a statement signing for four reasons.<\/p>\n First, it exemplifies Birmingham\u2019s ambitions in a week when their men\u2019s side paid a reported \u00a36m fee to sign the Danish striker August Priske. Their American owners crave promotion for both teams. Second, it demonstrates the need for WSL2 clubs to invest in this transfer window, with an extra promotion spot on the line<\/a> for one season only. Third, it comes in a week when a report showed<\/a> the revenues at Europe\u2019s leading women\u2019s clubs rose by an average of 35% last year. And last, but most not least, it suggests Leidhammar is a top prospect.<\/p>\n Leidhammar (right) contests a bouncing ball with Melissa Bellucci during an under-23 friendly between Sweden and Italy in November. Photograph: Kenta J\u00f6nsson\/Bildbyr\u00e5n\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n A source close to Norrk\u00f6ping told the Guardian Leidhammar had \u201ceverything needed\u201d to reach the top and that she could be the successor to Kosovare Asllani, the 36-year-old Sweden great. Leidhammar scored 27 goals and provided 11 assists in Sweden\u2019s top division across the past four seasons, including nine goals in 2025. \u201cI love to have the ball at my feet,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s my favourite part, to find those pockets of space, to assist and to score.\u201d<\/p>\n As far as the finances go, this is an investment Birmingham feel will pay off in the long term, but it does not come without risk. As the football journalist Michael Cox pointed out in reaction to the signing in a post on X, it is a huge outlay relative to the matchday income of a WSL2 club, not least because the division offers only 11 home matches a season. But it is soaring commercial revenues, rather than matchday revenues, for top clubs that will give Birmingham\u2019s owners confidence that their expenditure can pay off.<\/p>\n Leidhammar\u2019s arrival points to a notable trend in this transfer window: she is one of 14 players to have moved from a Scandinavian team to an English club. The region\u2019s reputation for developing young talent has led to a raid this month.<\/p>\n Tottenham have signed four players from Scandinavia: Norway\u2019s Signe Gaupset, from Brann, her international teammate Julie Blakstad, from the Swedish side Hammarby, and the Swedish duo Hanna Wijk and Matilda Nild\u00e9n from H\u00e4cken, who also lost Alice Bergstr\u00f6m to Liverpool on a permanent transfer and the Sweden goalkeeper Jennifer Falk on loan to the Merseyside club. Another of Sweden\u2019s emerging stars, right-back Smilla Holmberg, moved to Arsenal.<\/p>\n Leidhammar (left) and H\u00e4cken\u2019s Felicia Schr\u00f6der do battle in the Swedish Cup semi-final last May. Photograph: Peter Sonander\/SPP\/Alamy<\/p>\n