{"id":199588,"date":"2026-05-26T17:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T17:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/05\/26\/london-city-pursuing-putellas-after-barca-exit\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T17:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T17:59:09","slug":"london-city-pursuing-putellas-after-barca-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/05\/26\/london-city-pursuing-putellas-after-barca-exit\/","title":{"rendered":"London City pursuing Putellas after Barca exit"},"content":{"rendered":"<div >\n<p ><b >Two-time Ballon d&#8217;Or winner Alexia Putellas has announced she is leaving Barcelona after 14 years, with London City Lionesses in pursuit.<\/b><\/p>\n<p >The 32-year-old, widely regarded as one of the greatest female footballers of all-time, captained Barcelona to the Champions League title on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p >It was her fourth European crown with the club, while she has also won 10 league titles with Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p >Sources close to London City Lionesses, who finished sixth in their debut season in the Women&#8217;s Super League, say there is confidence they can strike a deal to bring Putellas to the club this summer. They have been in discussions with her for several months.<\/p>\n<p >Putellas won the World Cup with Spain in 2023 and was part of the squad that finished runners-up to England at Euro 2025.<\/p>\n<p >She 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<p >Since her return to full fitness, she has shown the types of performances that earned her back-to-back Ballon d&#8217;Or accolades in 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n<p >She leaves Barcelona as a legend of the club and it marks the end of a significant era for Pere Romeu&#8217;s side.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >London City Lionesses are attempting to pull off the biggest transfer in WSL history as they chase the two-time Ballon d&#8217;Or winner.<\/p>\n<p >Whether other clubs are also in discussions is unclear, but London City have been linked with a move for Putellas for some time and are the favourites to bring her in. <\/p>\n<p >They are willing to pull out all the stops to boost their ranks, including offering her wages that would reflect her status as one of the greatest players of all-time.<\/p>\n<p >They have been braced for a big summer, starting conversations with several players in January, with the view to boosting the squad at the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p >London City have ambitions of breaking into the WSL&#8217;s top three and qualifying for the Champions League in the not-too-distant future, and a signing like Putellas would be a huge step towards that.<\/p>\n<p >Putellas, who only lifted the Champions League trophy with Barcelona on Saturday, is also the blockbuster name billionaire owner Michele Kang craves.<\/p>\n<p >Kang also owns Lyon, who Barcelona beat in Saturday&#8217;s final, and she will know all too well what qualities Putellas possesses and the heights she can help London City reach.<\/p>\n<p >This year&#8217;s WSL newcomers are not your average club &#8211; an independent outfit, backed by seemingly unlimited funds from Kang and a desire to grow a women&#8217;s football team from scratch. That makes them an intriguing project.<\/p>\n<p >With Spanish coach Eder Maestre at the helm, close friend Jana Fernandez thriving there, and Barcelona team-mate Mapi Leon also expected to join London City, there are draws for Putellas.<\/p>\n<p >However, going from her childhood club, who she has just captained to her fourth European title, to a team who finished mid-table in the WSL this season would be a drop down.<\/p>\n<p >It further highlights the draw of the WSL and its rapid growth as more of the world\u2019s best players view England as a strong league. <\/p>\n<p >Putellas is a player every club in the world would surely be happy to accept so if London City Lionesses can pull it off, it would be a remarkable achievement for the WSL club.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p ><i ><b >Ben Haines, Ellen White and Jen Beattie are back for another season of the Women&#8217;s Football Weekly podcast. New episodes drop every Tuesday on BBC Sounds, plus find interviews and extra content from the Women&#8217;s Super League and beyond on the <\/b><\/i><i ><b >Women&#8217;s Football Weekly feed<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two-time Ballon d&#8217;Or winner Alexia Putellas has announced she is leaving Barcelona after 14 years, with London City Lionesses in pursuit. The 32-year-old, widely regarded as one of the greatest female footballers of all-time, captained Barcelona to the Champions League title on Saturday. It was her fourth European crown with the club, while she has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.1 (Yoast SEO v18.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>London City pursuing Putellas after Barca exit - Tahrir News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/05\/26\/london-city-pursuing-putellas-after-barca-exit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"London City pursuing Putellas after Barca exit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two-time Ballon d&#8217;Or winner Alexia Putellas has announced she is leaving Barcelona after 14 years, with London City Lionesses in pursuit. 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