{"id":539460,"date":"2026-07-08T15:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/539460\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:59:08","slug":"alexia-putellas-london-city-lionesses-sign-spain-midfielder-on-free-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/539460\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexia Putellas: London City Lionesses sign Spain midfielder on free transfer"},"content":{"rendered":"

London City Lionesses have signed two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas on a three-year deal in one of the biggest scoops in women’s football history.<\/p>\n

Spain midfielder Putellas, widely regarded as one of the game’s greatest players, left Barcelona after 14 years in May and attracted interest from almost every top club in the world.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old won 38 trophies with Barcelona, including 10 league titles.<\/p>\n

She was unveiled in New York City alongside London City’s US billionaire owner Michele Kang.<\/p>\n

“I am thrilled to embark on this new chapter with London City Lionesses,” said Putellas.<\/p>\n

“The club’s ambition and its steadfast commitment to growing as a women-only independent club resonate deeply with me.<\/p>\n

“I look forward to making an impact on the pitch as we challenge for titles. <\/p>\n

“Off the pitch, building on my passion for youth development, I am equally excited to work with Michele in elevating women’s football in England and on the global stage.”<\/p>\n

Putellas captained Barcelona to a fourth Champions League title in her final season, while London City finished sixth in their debut Women’s Super League campaign.<\/p>\n

It is a remarkable feat for London City to have persuaded Putellas to join as they continue to show lofty ambitions.<\/p>\n

BBC Sport reported last month that Putellas chose London City<\/a> over Boston Legacy, the final two clubs vying for her signature.<\/p>\n

“Alexia Putellas embodies the pinnacle of talent, dedication and vision in women’s football,” said Kang.<\/p>\n

“Her decision to join our independent, women-first club is a powerful endorsement of what we are building.<\/p>\n

“This is more than a signing. It is a bold statement about the future of the sport.”<\/p>\n

Putellas scored a club record 232 goals in 507 appearances for Barcelona, and is second on their all-time appearance list.<\/p>\n

She won the World Cup with Spain in 2023 and was part of the side beaten by England in the Euro 2025 final.<\/p>\n

Putellas was ruled out of Euro 2022 on the eve of the tournament with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and returned at the end of the following season.<\/p>\n

Following her return to full fitness, Putellas showed the types of performances that earned her back-to-back Ballons d’Or in 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n

She joins on a free transfer, having allowed her Barcelona contract to run out, and is believed to be London City’s highest-paid player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London City Lionesses have signed two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas on a three-year deal in one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-539460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}