“Happy because it happened”: Sam Kerr to leave Chelsea at end of the season
Sam Kerr will leave Chelsea at the end of the Barclays Women’s Super League season after six years and a half years at Stamford Bridge, the club has confirmed.
The Australian international, 32, will depart as a club legend and their all-time leading BSWL scorer, notching 90 goals and 28 assists in 116 appearances since joining in January 2020.
She was a constant presence throughout the Blues’ historic run of six consecutive league titles, and is the only striker in the history of the top flight to score 20 goals or more in consecutive seasons – a record that will take some beating for years to come.
Boasting a quite phenomenal trophy haul that also includes three FA Cups, two Continental Cups, a Community Shield, and two BWSL Player of the Season Awards, it’s no surprise that Kerr will be remembered as one of the greatest BWSL forwards of all time.
Though her minutes have been limited this season, still fighting back from her agonizing 18-month recovery period after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament in 2024, Kerr still scored six goals from just four full starts, featuring 17 times during Chelsea’s title defence.
“Obviously, there's a little bit of sadness,’ Kerr said.
“It’s leaving Chelsea, leaving the club where I've been for so long, leaving my teammates, leaving the fans.
“When you're playing for Chelsea, you have this fanbase that's like no other. I think back to the special moments that I remember at Kingsmeadow, at Wembley, at Stamford Bridge, all those games where we had a packed-out stadium with thousands and thousands of fans.
“But when I reflect on my Chelsea career and doing it for the last time, I just feel happy. Happy that it happened, and I feel so grateful to have played for this club for six years and won as many trophies as we could.”
A near-instant impact
Kerr first joined Chelsea for the second half of the 2019/20 BWSL season from Chicago Stars, and was up and running with a goal against Arsenal just two weeks after making her league debut against Reading.
Winning the League Cup and BWSL in her debut season, one that was curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, was just the start, and wasted no time making even more history.
Soon after storming to the first ever hat-trick at the World Cup by an Australian in the February of that year, Kerr bagged a remarkable 21 goals in 22 league games in the following campaign.
She was a key aid to Emma Hayes’ Chelsea side in their stalwart defence of both trophies, and became the first player to win the Golden Boot in three different leagues.
BBC Sport’s Emma Sanders recalled the formidable partnership she developed with playmaker Fran Kirby during Chelsea’s six-year “stranglehold” of the BWSL.
Their partnership produced 12 goals combined that season, a record which stands to this day and highlights the kind of link that has since been few and far between.
A player with no replacement
Sanders praised Kerr in a way that’s challenging to beat. Though rumors are swirling about Chelsea looking to bring Khadija Shaw to Stamford Bridge, Sanders believes that her manager Sonia Bompastor has no natural replacement anywhere in the footballing world.
Indeed, she represents the complete forward – a role that demands deadly finishing, an unrivaled eye for a pass, movement, strength, and stamina. We’d be here all day.
But to add to those qualities which come together to make Kerr a world class talent, and cult hero back home, is her ability to deliver on the biggest days of all.
She has been the woman for the big occasion, scoring a 92nd-minute strike against Aston Villa to keep their 2021/22 title hopes alive at Kingsmeadow – no prizes for guessing the team that won it – and the winner at Wembley to earn the Blues back-to-back FA Cups.
A comeback for the ages
Then came the ACL tear. Then the news that she wouldn’t be back in action until the next calendar year. But Bompastor recognised just how good of a player she had.
Kerr would remain at Stamford Bridge for the foreseeable future and signed a two-year contract extension five months later, in June 2024.Such injuries are so infamous for their tendency to end footballers’ careers, or make it so that they’re not quite the same player they once were.
But not Chelsea’s number nine. The 32-year-old was patient, making her long-anticipated return in and made her mark against Villa in stoppage time once more – but this may well have meant more than any of her past goals, it being her 100th in a Blue shirt.
Kerr’s story is one that future generations will likely be talking about for years and years to come, one of raw determination. Something that you don’t succeed as a player, nor a role model without having in bucketloads.
It will be a very emotional day when the forward joins long-serving teammate Millie Bright as she brings the curtain down on 12 years with Chelsea.
Her 20 months absence now behind her, Kerr’s unforgettable time with the Blues couldn’t possibly be summed up any better than in the legendary striker’s own words.
“Happy that it happened.”
Word credit: Oliver Whitmore
