Keira Walsh, the most expensive Englishwoman in football

Kiera Walsh rose through the ranks of women's football to become the one-time most expensive woman in the world. Let's take a look at how she ended up there!

Walsh was born in Rochdale in 1997 to parents Peter and Tracy. She grew up in the nearby rural town of Syke where she started playing football with her father from a young age, as told by The Guardian.

From age 7 onwards, Walsh was playing organised competitive football. She started her playing career at Pearson Juniors before moving to Samba Stars, playing in the boy's teams until the age of 11.

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Whilst football has always been Walsh’s number one sport, she was a member of the Lancashire cricket team as well as representing the county at badminton and competing in regional swimming and netball tournaments. A truly gifted sportswoman.

After turning 11, Walsh was no longer allowed to play boy’s football, so in an attempt to continue her development, she attended a Football Association Skills Centre and went on trial with Blackburn Rovers where she was joined and played from under 12-17.

Walsh graduated the Blackburn Academy and started playing first-team football at the age of 16. After spending one-year playing senior football, Walsh left Blackburn and found herself looking for a club in the Women’s Super League. After some encouragement, she attended trials at Manchester City.

It took less than a full session at the City trials for Walsh to show her quality, with first-team coach Nick Cushing asking her to sign for the main squad as an attacking midfielder.

Cushing was immediately impressed by Walsh’s ability, claiming she had the, “best football brain” of any player he had coached and that Walsh was, “almost touched by God”.

After getting scouted by the Cityzens, Walsh was moved to St Bede's College in Manchester so she had easier access to the training facilities at the club.

After a slow start to her City career, Walsh settled into a starting role during the 2016 season despite missing time through injury. City finished the season unbeaten and were crowned league champions. This was City’s first-ever WSL title.

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Over the next few seasons Walsh’s star was on the rise. She was nominated for the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) Women's Young Player of the Year award every year from 2016 through to 2019.

England went into the 2019 Women’s World Cup with high expectations and Walsh was seen as a key part of the squad. Playing as a deep-lying holding midfielder, Walsh underperformed at the tournament and came under a great deal of criticism for her efforts.

Walsh herself acknowledged her performances weren’t up to scratch and even went as far as contemplating retirement as a result. She struggled to come to terms with what had happened at the World Cup and attempted to force through a transfer away from Manchester City.

Once again Nick Cushing played a key role in Walsh’s career as he convinced her to stay despite Walsh putting in a formal transfer request. Alongside Cushing’s intervention, Walsh started seeing sports psychologists to build up her confidence.

The Summer of 2022 saw England Women win the European Championship for the first time with Walsh as a key member of the squad. The dramatic final saw England beat Germany in extra time with a 110th-minute winner.

After committing herself to Manchester City in 2019, Walsh spent another three seasons with the Cityzens winning more trophies along the way. At the start of the 2022 season, Walsh completed a move to Spanish giants Barcelona for a world record price of £400,000, as reported by Talk Sport. 

In her first club in Catalonia, Walsh’s Barcelona side would complete the double, winning the Primera División Femenina de Fútbol and the UEFA Women's Champions League.

Walsh was a key member of England's run to their first-ever Women's World Cup final. Despite defeat to Spain in the final, Walsh proved her worth to the side, overcoming a knee injury to feature in the knockout rounds of the tournament.

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