Barcelona have denied signing Keira Walsh for a world-record transfer fee.
The England international, 25, completed a move from Manchester City to Barcelona on Wednesday. She is regarded as one of the best holding midfielders in Europe, helping Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses beat Germany in the Euro 2022 final at Wembley in July.
Walsh's transfer dominated the headlines, as it was believed Barcelona paid a world-record £400,000 for her services. Yet the Spanish club's managing director for the women's side Markel Zubizarreta has denied they paid more than €350,000 (around £306,500), which is what Chelsea gave Wolfsburg to sign Pernille Harder in September 2020.
"I couldn't even tell you if it's the most expensive signing in Barca's history," Zubizarreta told Mundo Deportivo when asked about Walsh's transfer fee. "Therefore, from the history of women's football I think not either."
Zubizarreta was then asked if Barcelona paid more than €350,000 for Walsh's services, to which he replied: "We are below. It is true that in the end it is a signing that has been tremendously complex due to the little need for City to remove the player.
"In this context of making an economic offer above our real possibilities, it is clear that the player has helped a lot to make this happen because otherwise it would have been impossible."
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Walsh, who had just a year left on her City deal, has signed a three-year contract at Barcelona. She arrives in Spain with a fine CV, winning the WSL title, three FA Cups and four League Cups. The Euros winner has 50 senior caps for England.
Lucy Bronze, 30, also left City for Barcelona in the summer. That transfer came as a bit of a shock, with the press not finding out about it until it was announced. Like Walsh, Bronze also has a fine reputation - winning FIFA's Player of the Year award in 2020.
Explaining Bronze's transfer saga, Zubizarreta said: "That is the perfect story. We work to make things happen. The signing of Keira Walsh is not worse because it came out in the media than that of Lucy because it did not come out, we do not work so that the press does not know about it or anything.
"But it is true that the fact that nobody knows about it and announcing something that is a world shock, also because of Lucy's profile, it's the perfect story, but we work not to explain them but because it's what we think we have to do. What doesn't come out? Good. What comes out? Well, what we want is to sign her."
Zubizarreta went on to say: "The subject of her [Bronze] moved very quickly. We knew that she had just finished her contract. It is a profile of players that almost everyone wants to come to Barca. Yes, everything happens very quickly because the first contact is made by herself, not by us."
When asked if Bronze contacted Barcelona, Zubizarreta replied: "Yes, it is her agent who calls us and tells us if we are interested, and from there everything is triggered. Few people in the club knew about it because it was very fast and on her part I think they also knew very little about it."
