US Ladies’s Nationwide Group () defender has turn out to be girls’s soccer’s first ever million-dollar participant, becoming a member of English champion from .
The 24-year-old signed for the Blues for about £900,000 ($1.1 million) on a four-and-a-half-year deal, in response to the .
The earlier file switch charge was set final yr, when Zambia striker joined Bay FC from Madrid CFF for $788,000. Girma’s signing is the third time Chelsea has damaged the file, having signed Pernille Tougher for $355,000 in 2020 and Mayra Ramírez for $542,000 in 2024.
“I’m so glad and actually excited to be right here. It doesn’t really feel actual,” in a membership announcement. “There are quite a lot of issues about Chelsea that made me wish to come right here – the tradition, the profitable mentality, employees and gamers. It’s a prime atmosphere to study and develop in. Proper now, that’s what I’m trying to do. It was a simple selection for me.”
Girma has made 44 appearances for the USWNT and performed each minute as Emma Hayes’ group in Paris.
“Look, she’s the very best defender I’ve ever seen,” stated Hayes – who received seven Ladies’s Tremendous League (WSL) titles throughout her 12 years at Chelsea – after the USWNT’s semifinal win over Germany in Paris, . “I’ve by no means seen a participant pretty much as good as her on the again. She’s obtained the whole lot, poise, composure, she will defend, she anticipates, she leads. (She’s) unbelievable.”
Girma was additionally a key a part of the USWNT squad on the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023, a yr during which she was named US Soccer Feminine Participant of the 12 months.
At membership degree, the defender was the primary decide of the 2022 NWSL Draft, chosen by the Wave forward of the membership’s inaugural season, having impressed whereas at Stanford College.
She was named Rookie of the 12 months in 2022 and NWSL Defender of the 12 months in every of her first two seasons. In 2023, Girma was a part of the Wave group that received the NWSL Protect, and the next yr, she was nominated for the Participant of the 12 months prize at FIFA’s Finest Awards. She made 72 appearances throughout her three seasons in San Diego.
The American, who was launched to Chelsea followers at Stamford Bridge forward of the group’s 1-0 win over Arsenal on Sunday, will put on quantity 16 for her new membership.
Chelsea is presently seven factors away from Manchester United on the prime of the WSL.
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