Olivia Smith became the most expensive player in women's soccer history Thursday when she joined Arsenal from Liverpool for a world record transfer fee of 1 million pounds ($1.34 million).
The new benchmark in women's soccer surpasses the 900,000 pounds ($1.1 million) Chelsea paid for Naomi Girma from San Diego Wave in January.
''She's one of the most talented young players in the game and has huge potential for further development here at the club,'' Arsenal director of women's football Clare Wheatley said.
The 20-year-old Canada forward signed a four-year deal, a person with knowledge of the contract told The Associated Press. The person, who also confirmed the record fee, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the full details of the transfer have not been made public.
Smith's deal highlights the rapid increase in spending in women's soccer with transfer records regularly broken in recent years.
Zambia striker Racheal Kundananji set a new record when joining Bay FC from Madrid CFF for $788,000 last year, and that figure was quickly exceeded by Girma's move to Chelsea, becoming the first $1 million women's soccer player.
As recently as 2020, the most expensive women's player was Denmark's Pernille Harder, who joined Chelsea from Wolfsburg for $355,000.
England's Keira Walsh left Manchester City for Barcelona in 2022 for a deal worth $513,000, and Chelsea broke the record again in 2024 when signing Mayra Ramirez from Levante for $542,000.
