Arsenal's monster transfer fee for Canadian Olivia Smith buzzes at home

Edmonton Journal

7 hours ago

Article content
A Canadian player setting a new benchmark in the women's soccer transfer market floats a lot of boats, says Northern Super League co-founder and former Canadian international Diana Matheson.
Article content
The one million pounds (C$1.85 million) Arsenal paid Liverpool for 20-year-old forward Olivia Smith of Whitby, Ont., in the Women's Super League is the biggest price tag in women's soccer history for a transfer.
Article content
Article content
Matheson says an accelerating transfer fee market bodes well for the NSL, which kicked off this year with six teams and a mission to provide the first domestic women's pro league for Canadian and international players.
Article content
Article content
'The growth of the market really helps us sell to investors in Canada and abroad,' she said. 'The transfer market is obviously a piece of that puzzle.
Article content
'This is where the market is at that a Canadian player is going for this and how exciting is it like that we're not far around the corner now that we have a professional league, that if top Canadians choose to leave the Canadian league in the future, clubs could be selling them for a whole lot of money because we create such world-class players.'
Article content
Smith's transfer to the Gunners announced Thursday surpassed the previous high of 900,000 pounds (C$1.6 million) Chelsea paid the NWSL's San Diego Wave for American centre back Naomi Girma in January.
Article content
Article content
'To be part of a movement that's changing how the game is valued is an honour,' Smith said in a statement released by her public relations agency.
Article content
'This is a huge step forward for women's soccer and for Canadian soccer. I hope this shows young Canadian girls that anything is possible.'
Article content
Serita Thurton of the NSL's Wild FC said rumours about Smith's transfer to Arsenal before it was announced was a topic of discussion in the Calgary club's dressing room.
Article content
'Seeing a Canadian player break a record like this, it kind of just shows that Canada has a lot to offer when it comes to quality in soccer players,' said the forward from Ajax, Ont.
Article content
'It definitely makes our league look a lot better. Even though she isn't playing it, just the fact that it is a Canadian league, it does make a statement saying that Canada has quality players and that we're a football country in our own right. So yeah, it definitely has a good look in that sense.'