Barcelona reject Arsenal Keira Walsh record bid

Arsenal had a late record bid rejected for Keira Walsh by Barcelona, with the WSL transfer window closing at 11pm last night. The Gunners have held a long-term interest in the player which started last summer, but, at that stage, Barcelona would not countenance a move for the player they broke the world transfer record for just one year earlier.

Last summer, our information was that the player was unlikely to extend her Barca contract beyond 2025 and was open to the idea of moving back to England. Sport’s Maria Tikas, widely renowned as the journalist with the best information around Barca Femeni and the BBC’s Emma Sanders have reported that Walsh has firmly communicated this summer that she will not extend her Barca deal because she wants to return home.

Last summer, once Arsenal had given up hope on Barca’s resistance breaking, they pivoted to signing Kyra Cooney-Cross from Hammarby. This summer, with one year left on Walsh’s deal and with no prospect for an extension, there was a sense that Barca might be willing to talk at the right price, though that price was always going to be high.

An ACL injury suffered by Victoria Pelova on international duty in early June left a potential gap in midfield for the Gunners. At that point, well sourced reports in Spain confirmed Barca were lining up a move for Manchester City’s Laia Aleixandri but once it became clear that City were not willing to sanction a sale, a move for Walsh became more complicated.

There had been hope that Barca’s resistance might drop as the deadline approached with the knowledge that the European champions stand to lose the player for free next summer. That did not come to pass and Maria Tikas reports that a record bid was lodged on Thursday that was rejected. Tikas reports that Arsenal had several bids rejected during the summer and Arsenal certainly held interest in the player throughout the window. LaTdG say the final bid was in the region of £929k but we don’t have clear information on the numbers.

Barcelona usually publish their match day squads the day before a match but they didn’t publicly confirm their squad for their game against Real Sociedad last night until Friday morning. We also believe that Chelsea held an interest in the player but we don’t know whether they ever lodged a bid.

As far as we are aware, Arsenal did not move for any other central midfielders this summer and are happy with their options there, but considered Walsh a quality addition rather than a quantity addition. Eidevall said several times during the summer the club were interested in adding one player but not any player and we believe he was referencing Walsh. With the player’s contract up next year and with her unlikely to renew, this is unlikely to spell the end of the matter.