Canadian ahead Olivia Smith turned the costliest participant in ladies’s soccer historical past with a transfer to Champions League winners Arsenal.
Liverpool accepted a suggestion from their Ladies’s Tremendous League rivals price £1 million ($1.3 million), sources advised Emily Keogh of ESPN. That exceeds the earlier file payment of $1.1 million, which was set in January when Chelsea purchased American defender Naomi Girma from the NWSL’s San Diego Wave.
“It is a privilege and an honor to signal for Arsenal,” Smith stated upon being unveiled by Arsenal. “It is my dream to compete for the largest titles right here in England and in Europe and I am excited to get began and contribute to doing that right here with Arsenal. The ambiance the supporters create at Emirates Stadium is unimaginable and I can not wait to have that behind me now.”
The most recent addition to the Arsenal household ❤️
Olivia Smith is a Gunner ✍️ pic.twitter.com/9tDKSMcfxf
— Arsenal Ladies (@ArsenalWFC) July 17, 2025
Smith can fulfill varied attacking roles and scored seven of Liverpool’s 22 objectives through the 2024-25 Ladies’s Tremendous League marketing campaign. The 20-year-old was named the Gamers’ Participant of the 12 months and the Gamers’ Younger Participant of the 12 months by her teammates after her debut season with the membership.
Smith turned the youngest participant ever to be referred to as as much as the Canadian ladies’s workforce on the age of 15. She has since earned 18 caps, scoring three objectives and aiding thrice regardless of beginning simply seven matches.
Liverpool reportedly rejected quite a few bids for Smith earlier than succumbing to Arsenal’s record-breaking proposal. The accepted provide is known to be not less than 5 occasions greater than the £200,000 that Liverpool paid Sporting CP to signal Smith in July 2024.
“She’s phenomenal. She provides us a lot on the ball, however the work-rate off the ball is simply nearly as good,” Liverpool’s interim head coach Amber Whiteley stated after Smith scored twice – together with the ladies’s workforce’s first objective at Anfield – in a 3-1 win over Manchester United in March.
