The reasons that have led Alexia Putellas to opt for London

BarcelonaAlexia Putellas will play next season at Michele Kang's magnate London City. The ex-Barça player —whose contract ends next June 30— will try her luck in the English league after fourteen seasons wearing the Barça jersey. There she will meet again with Jana Fernández, Lucía Corrales, María Pérez and Mapi León, who will also make the same journey as Alexia this summer.

The 32-year-old footballer said goodbye to the Catalan fans at the end of May and closed a "perfect story" after lifting the fourth Champions League in the club's history in Oslo.

Alexia —who at the end of the year could win her third Golden Ball in a gala that will be held, precisely, in London on October 26— assured that she wanted to give way to the new batch of young people coming up behind her. These were the reasons given by the footballer, who assured that she had "emptied herself".

Now, the Catalan will experience her first adventure abroad at the hands of London City, one of the teams controlled by Michele Kang, who also owns Olympique de Lyon. Before Barça, Alexia had worn the shirts of Levante, Espanyol, and Sabadell during her formative years.

A great project, but without competing with Barça

One of the conditions Alexia Putellas had for choosing her new destination was not having to compete against Barça, the club of her life. This already ruled out major projects such as Arsenal, Chelsea, PSG, or Olympique de Lyon, among many other teams, from the outset.

In recent weeks the scales had been tipping, until in these last few days there were only two options left for the player from Mollet del Vallès: London City and Boston Legacy. The start of training in the United States – set for the first week of July, as the ARA has learned – meant that Alexia, who initially wanted time to reflect and make the best decision, had to make a decision this last week of June.

The competitiveness of the league and continuing in Europe, close to her family, are some of the reasons that have led Alexia to lean towards the English team, as reported by Sport and confirmed by this newspaper.

Another of the issues that influenced the final decision is that London City is a new club and she will not be associated with any other major fan base or stadium. Furthermore, Alexia wants to help demonstrate that a women's football-only club can also compete with big projects, can have a future, and be profitable.

All this without stopping competing at the highest level to be able to reach the World Cup in Brazil next summer in the best possible conditions.