How Michele Kang convinced two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas to join London City

Alexia Putellas is officially the London City Lionesses’ latest signing. Unveiled at an event in New York City after Putellas had been spotted hopping across the United States for the 2026 men’s World Cup, the perennial winner has put a bow on her legacy-filled chapter with FC Barcelona to join a project based on potential rather than a proven record.

However, what the club lacks in reputation is made up for by owner Michele Kang’s vision in Putellas’ eyes.

For all the headlines about a transfer saga, in the end, the courtship between Putellas and London City was relatively straightforward, thanks largely to a shared mission between the player and Kang. Despite serious interest from National Women’s Soccer League clubs and the league’s front office, Putellas was won over by Kang’s vision at London City.

Putellas departed Barcelona this summer as a two-time Ballon d’Or winner and four-time Champions League victor among more than 30 titles.

When Putellas takes the field this September on the outskirts of London in Bromley — a far cry from the 60,000 fans at Camp Nou when she played her final home Champions League match for Barcelona — it will be the start of London City’s second season in the Women’s Super League, English football’s top flight.

Though the team has plans for a new training facility, Hayes Lane, where London City plays their home games, has a capacity of just over 6,000. The Lionesses were fighting an uphill battle with attendance in their first year, often pulling fans in due in part to their opponent, as they continue to establish themselves in the league. Their attendance peaked at 5,414 fans last season in a 2-0 loss to Arsenal, who play their home matches at Emirates Stadium with a 60,000-seat capacity.

London City promises something entirely different for the 32-year-old midfielder: A chance to be part of the WSL’s only independent club, holding ambitions to unseat Chelsea and Arsenal.

Putellas avoided stirring up a bidding war as she made her final decision. One source, speaking on condition on anonymity like others in this article to protect relationships, characterized the conversation between club and player as a mutual understanding of the player’s worth from the jump. Putellas prioritized what London City — and Kang’s global reach — could offer her in the next stage of her career, having won basically everything there is to win with Barcelona through her 14 seasons with the club.

Multiple sources familiar with the negotiations said the finances were never a sticking point. Putellas’ drive was never to become the world’s top-paid player, despite that record being tested nearly weekly during the transfer window. Instead, her larger aim is to help grow the sport.

Putellas’ annual salary at Barcelona was roughly €750,000 (£640,000; $850,000), and she will get a solid, not outrageous, bump in London. A source familiar with the terms of the contract said that while additional conditions could come into play, Putellas’ base salary will be under €1 million a year, with the initial contract set to run three years.

In January 2026, with six months left on her deal, Putellas was spotted at Hayes Lane, taking in London City’s 2-1 loss to Manchester City next to her then-teammate at Barcelona, Patricia Guijarro. There was a friendly reason for their attendance, with former Barça player Jana Fernández featuring for the home side (plus Leila Ouahabi playing for Manchester City). Kang was also in attendance. While outside observers may point to it as potential initial contact in the signing saga, it was not the first time Putellas and Kang had met.

Following Kang’s contentious takeover of the Washington Spirit in 2022, she crossed paths with Putellas at one of the myriad events on investing in women’s football. Kang spoke about her big bet on the Spirit’s value, but also what she planned for the future. Putellas took note of Kang’s ambitions due to her own work with her foundation, but beyond that brief interaction, they went their separate ways.

While in many ways it’s been impossible to ignore, Putellas kept track of how Kang followed up on her plan, from the formation of her multi-club organization Kynisca — and subsequent acquisitions of OL Lyonnes and London City — to further investments in research, coaching education, U.S. Soccer and more.

However, in May 2024, Putellas signed a two-year extension with Barcelona, with an option to add another 12 months. As early as the summer of 2025, Putellas was considering leaving and came close to a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Some Barcelona staffers even received a call informing them of her intentions to leave, according to sources with knowledge of Putellas’ deliberations.

At the last minute, Putellas decided to stay.

In her final season with the club, she surpassed 500 total appearances and became Barcelona’s second-highest scorer, man or woman, with 232 goals (Lionel Messi, on 672, is first). Barcelona won the league, as well as the Copa de la Reina and Supercopa de España, and put the exclamation point on their year with a 4-0 trouncing of Kang’s OL Lyonnes in the Champions League final.

By mid-March, the rumblings of a potential connection between London City and Putellas began to emerge again. There were some familiar faces within the organization already: LCL’s general manager Gonzalo Rodríguez García managed Barcelona from 2018 to 2021, and Kynisca’s global sporting director Markel Zubizarreta previously served as the head of the women’s team from 2015 to 2023. Both overlapped with Putellas, who was with the club before women’s football was even fully professionalized in Spain in 2021.

Any club or league with ambition had reason to inquire about her future, and interest was clear across England, the United States and Mexico. By April, Putellas’ camp insisted that she was entirely focused on her remaining time at Barcelona and no decision had been made.

On May 26, Putellas posted her farewell to Barcelona. By the end of the month, she was still considering her options, according to sources familiar with Putellas’ decision-making. There was serious interest from a few NWSL clubs, with Boston Legacy submitting a formal offer in early June. By the end, they were the final club in the mix alongside London City, according to multiple sources.

The Legacy’s general manager, Domènec Guasch, another former Barça employee, declined to comment on the nature of their offer. However, a source indicated Boston understood Putellas’ larger goals to grow the game and were ready to fully support that work, in addition to providing what they considered a competitive financial package within the limitations of the league’s salary cap.

The NWSL’s front office also reached out to her representation, extolling the benefits of what the league could offer on and off the field, according to sources with knowledge of the offer. They cited the league’s parity, protections in the collective bargaining agreement, and the introduction of the high-impact player rule that allows spending of up to $1 million over a team’s salary cap.

Putellas would not only have qualified for the new rule, but could also have served as the clearest example yet of the NWSL’s ambitions to sign the best players in the world. Trinity Rodman remains the highest-profile signing made using the new mechanism introduced to help keep her in the U.S.

Despite public reporting around NWSL clubs being in contention through the World Cup break, in reality, Putellas’ selection of London City was never really in doubt for multiple reasons.

Two sources familiar with Putellas’ thinking said she ultimately found the WSL to be a better fit for top players than the U.S.’s top flight. While the NWSL’s parity can’t be denied, the sources said that Putellas felt the WSL offered higher-quality opponents and a better overall environment — and a quicker trip home to Barcelona, as a bonus.

Multiple sources who were close to the negotiations said both Putellas and Kang see her move to London City as more than just a project on the field, but an alignment between one of the best players in the world and the game’s biggest investor with a shared mission of growing the game. Putellas had a front-row seat to the rise of women’s soccer in Spain, but her gaze has also become global.

For all her previous success, it would be naïve to suggest Putellas isn’t interested in winning, too. While sources said that Putellas had little desire to go to a direct competitor of Barcelona in the Champions League, such as Chelsea or Arsenal, the project Kang is building at Hayes Lane offered something different. With her decision finally public, there will be reputational risk for Putellas, even if it is only the perception of risk in choosing London City. If nothing else, UEFA doubled down on banning two clubs from the same multi-club organization from participating in the women’s Champions League before this year’s final, with head of women’s football Nadine Kessler citing “sporting integrity” as the primary factor.

London City’s aggressive push into the transfer market — and Kang’s willingness to spend money — may have rankled many across the WSL and European women’s football, but the club also understands a truth about the women’s game as it stands today: Investment such as this may pay off much quicker than what it would take on the men’s side to produce a winning club at the highest level.

Last season, London City finished their first season in the top flight firmly in the middle of the pack, with an 8-3-11 record and nearly 30 points back from title-winners Manchester City. They were 13 points off the pace for a top-four finish. Putellas is not the only arrival this summer, though, with former England goalkeeper Mary Earps signing a two-year deal, Germany international Nicole Anyomi joining on a four-year contract and former Utah Royals right back Janni Thomsen adding to their options in defence.

On Wednesday, Putellas’ new start in London officially begins, albeit in New York City — maybe 3,500 miles further away than anyone might have expected. Still, the mission is clear. She is not done winning off or on the pitch.

Megan Feringa contributed to this reporting.