When rumours of London City Lionesses’ move for Alexia Putellas began to gain momentum, few could believe she’d leave Barcelona for one of the more recent Barclays Women’s Super League franchises.
After all, Putellas is a multiple title winner for both club and country. The Spaniard has picked up numerous individual awards, including two Ballon d’Or successes in 2021 and 2022.
So, for LCL to lure her away from Barcelona, ending a 14-year spell with the Spanish giants in the process, was a major coup. In July, she penned a three-year deal with the capital club. In September, Putellas was named captain, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. She is arguably the best player in the world.
And she made a winning start to life in England as London City claimed a 2-1 win over Manchester United. They followed that up with a 2-1 defeat to London rivals West Ham United. In truth, Putellas wasn’t great in either clash.
London City Lionesses’ summer recruitment drive
That, though, shouldn’t come as a surprise. London City have assembled a star-studded squad capable of challenging the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea for the BWSL title, even if they do need time to gel.
Putellas addressed the lifestyle change last month. “It's a complete change in my life. It's a constant, daily learning process: the culture, the language, moving to a new country, a new city,” she told AFP. It was never going to be a seamless transition from Spain to England, even if she was the headline capture.
The likes of Mary Earps, Mapi Leon, Kadidiatou Diani and Daniela Arques, among others, all made the move to London over the summer. Despite their obvious quality, throwing any number of players together and expecting them to immediately steamroll all those in their path is borderline impossible.
Even so, London City look to have made the impossible, possible. The season is four games old, and they’ve collected nine points. Eder Maestre has worked his magic, guiding the club to successive victories over Charlton Athletic and Brighton & Hove Albion following the West Ham reverse. They take on another London rival in high-flying Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.
Putellas starting to hit her stride
And ahead of the London derby, Putellas looks to have found her groove. Indeed, she provided the assist for Isobel Goodwin’s opener in the 4-1 triumph at Charlton. It was the 32-year-old who scored LCL’s first in a 2-0 victory over Brighton. This is what fans had come to expect, the star player coming in clutch to guide the team to all three points.
Putellas is doing so while offering a bit of everything in the middle of the park. Only Leon (10) has created more chances than the Spain star (6) for LCL. Seven shots and six successful dribbles also rank second for Maestre’s side. 201 passes and six tackles are both the third most.
Her performances both on and off the ball means that LCL rank third for possession (62.2%), and are conceding the joint fewest shots per game (7) in the BWSL. They’re generating more xG per shot (0.16) than any other team in the league so far.
Of course, it’s early days for both Putellas and LCL, but the opening weeks of the season suggest that they are gelling far quicker than many expected. That in itself should be a worry for the rest of the BWSL. They will, though, face their toughest test of the season so far when they travel to Spurs in an action-packed weekend of action.
They’ll want to head into the international break on a high, though doing so against Martin Ho’s in-form Spurs side will be far easier said than done. The north London outfit have scored more goals (15) than any other team. Only Chelsea (1) have conceded fewer (2).
Both returns will be really put to the test on Sunday afternoon.
Fantasy option?
At £8.5m, Putellas is the fourth most expensive player in Fantasy this season. Even plying her trade in a new league, that’s to be expected given her previous exploits for both Barcelona and Spain. Even then, the price tag hasn’t put users off. She’s selected in 52% of teams, the third highest such proportion.
And while 24 points after the opening four games doesn’t make for great reading, 19 of those have come in the last two Matchweeks, suggesting she is starting to really hit her stride.
If LCL are to end Spurs’ unbeaten start to the season and in the process, boost their own title chances, then Putellas again has a big role to play.