Keira Walsh joins Barcelona from Manchester City for world-record fee

England midfielder Keira Walsh has joined Barcelona from Manchester City for what the PA news agency understands is a world-record fee.

The 25-year-old has signed a three-year deal with Barca, with it reported that the fee is just over £400,000.

Denmark captain Pernille Harder is said to have been the most expensive player in women’s football prior to this, reportedly moving for a fee in excess of £250,000 when she switched from Wolfsburg to Chelsea in 2020.

Walsh, one of the stars of England’s Euros success over the summer, had been at City since 2014 and had a year left on her contract.

She joins a Barcelona outfit who last season claimed a third successive league title and were Champions League runners-up, a year on from winning the competition.

City finished third in the Women’s Super League last term and were eliminated in the first qualifying round of this season’s Champions League.

Walsh made a total of 211 appearances in all competitions for City, winning the 2016 WSL title, three FA Cups and four League Cups.

She earned her 50th England cap in Tuesday’s 10-0 win over Luxembourg in Stoke, and played for Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

She adds to a list of Lionesses to have departed Gareth Taylor’s City squad this summer, which includes Lucy Bronze leaving to sign for Barcelona in June.

There has also been Georgia Stanway moving to Bayern Munich, and Ellen White and Jill Scott have retired, while another notable exit has been Scotland’s Caroline Weir moving to Real Madrid.

Incomings have included three players arriving from the Spanish top flight, Leila Ouahabi from Barca, and fellow defender Laia Aleixandri and forward Deyna Castellanos from Atletico Madrid.