London City Lionesses break women’s football transfer record with £1.43m Geyoro signing

London City Lionesses have broken the world record for a women’s football transfer by signing the France midfielder Grace Geyoro from Paris Saint-Germain for €1.65m (£1.43m), the Guardian understands.

The deal is believed to have gone to the wire on Thursday but was completed before the Women’s Super League’s transfer window closed at 11pm BST and the 28-year-old has become the third player to break the world record in the women’s game in less than two months.

It follows Olivia Smith’s £1m move from Liverpool to Arsenal in mid-July, the first that broke the £1m barrier, and Lizbeth Ovalle’s $1.5m (£1.1m) transfer to the American club Orlando Pride from the Mexican side Tigres. London City Lionesses are flexing their muscles in the transfer market thanks to the spending power available to them through their owner, Michele Kang. The American businesswoman also owns the French champions, OL Lyonnes, and the National Women’s Soccer League side Washington Spirit.

London City have made a flurry of big-name signings during this first window since their promotion from the second tier, adding the Netherlands midfielder Daniëlle van de Donk, the England forward Nikita Parris and, on Thursday, the Spain youth international winger Lucía Corrales, for a fee understood to be €500,000.

London City are trying to disrupt the established order in the women’s game. Based in Bromley and Kent, they are the first fully independent club to reach the WSL. PSG thanked Geyoro and said she had “left an indelible mark on the history” of the club.

The fee for Geyoro was described as “crazy” by the Manchester United manager, Marc Skinner. “If we’re being really honest, the window has gone crazy, right?” Skinner said. “I’m just hearing about the Grace Geyoro move, like, that is crazy. The window and the market has just shifted so much.”

Skinner went on to name the transfers of Geyoro, Ovalle, Smith and Chelsea’s Alyssa Thompson. “Who would have thought that in this window, we’d have four £1m players? I just think we [Manchester United] won’t be able to, right now, go to those levels of transfer fee. I’ll be honest with that. We’re not in that realm.

“There’ll be pressure on London City now to deliver and then you’ve got to deliver under pressure, because you spent big. We’ll see how they do with that.”

Asked why United were not “in that realm” despite being one of the biggest clubs in the world and whether that was frustrating, Skinner said: “Everybody says: ‘We should spend this, we should do that.’ But I have a group of people I’m responsible for: the players. They need sustainability and they need consistency, and that’s how I lead. Would I like to spend £5m? Of course I would, but it’s just not realistic.

“The reality is, if there was financial fair play in this league – which I don’t want, by the way, because right now we need to grow – but the reality is, there’s no way London City will make that transfer fee back for many, many, many, many years. That’s what I’m saying.

“I understand our fans’ frustration at times because, as I say, it’s moving quicker than anyone could have imagined. As Manchester United, we need to review it and we need to look at what is the right amount of investment to make sure our team stays competitive and wins things.”

Alessia Russo has signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal on the eve of their WSL opener against London City at the Emirates Stadium. The forward, a European champion for club and country, has scored 36 goals in 72 games for Arsenal since joining from Manchester United in 2023.

Last season Russo shared the WSL’s Golden Boot with Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw, with 12 goals, and was named the Football Writers’ Association’s women’s footballer of the year and shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or.

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