London has become Alexia Putellas’ new footballing horizon, but the former Barcelona captain arrives there with the weight of a completed era behind her. A month before the Ballon d’Or ceremony in her adopted city, the 32-year-old London City midfielder says she would rather let her performances make her case for a third award.
Key takeaways
- Putellas left Barcelona this summer after 14 years, following a fourth UEFA Women’s Champions League triumph.
- She has joined London City to front an ambitious project led by owner Michele Kang, who also owns Lyon.
- London City will not play in the Champions League this season, a consequence Putellas accepted when choosing the move.
- The Spain international won the Ballon d’Or in 2021 and 2022 and is again among the leading candidates.
- She believes a lighter club schedule may help her prepare for Spain’s 2027 World Cup title defence in Brazil.
A new project after Barcelona
For Putellas, the move from Barcelona’s established powerhouse to a club still shaping its identity represents more than a transfer. It is a change of country, language, city and daily routine, with London City offering a different challenge from the one she had known in Catalonia.
“It is a radical change in my life,” she said. “Every day is a constant learning process: the culture, the language, the country, the city — everything.”
She felt that ending her Barcelona chapter could not mean trying to recreate it elsewhere. The club’s academy-to-first-team model, she noted, is rooted in years of work and a shared football culture that is exceptionally difficult to duplicate.
At Barcelona, Putellas said, children as young as 10 are taught in the same way as the senior side. That continuity requires time, labour and an understanding between people that few clubs can match. Her aim in London is therefore not to replicate Barcelona, but to help build something distinct by contributing on the pitch and away from it.
The decision also means an unfamiliar European autumn. Putellas will watch the Champions League from outside the competition this season, having left after lifting the trophy and taking part throughout Barcelona’s successful campaign.
She described the situation as strange, but part of the complete change she sought. She knew before joining London City that European football would not be part of this season, and said she leaves Barcelona with the ideal memory: winning the cup, featuring in every match and maintaining consistency through difficult spells.
Ballon d’Or focus and Spain’s longer road
The Ballon d’Or ceremony is due in London in a month, and Putellas returns to the conversation after the serious knee injury that interrupted her career following her back-to-back victories in 2021 and 2022.
She does not view the prize as something to reclaim. Instead, she says being considered among the potential winners is already a source of pride, particularly after an injury that changed her perspective. Since then, she has tried to value each occasion because she knows such moments cannot be assumed to return.
While some candidates in the men’s award have publicly pressed their cases, Putellas sees no problem with players using their platforms if they speak honestly. Her own preference is simpler.
“I prefer football to speak for me,” she said. “The season, the matches and the results are there. Everything is recorded now, and people can draw their own conclusions.”
Her reduced fixture list may also have an international benefit. Spain will travel to Brazil in 2027 as reigning women’s world champions, and Putellas acknowledged that the prospect of arriving fresher was among the factors she weighed before leaving Barcelona.
She stressed that the tournament remains distant and that her attention is on the day-to-day demands of her new club. But she believes the circumstances can help her perform across the full season and put herself in position for selection, should Spain’s coach call on her, with the aim of repeating the triumph achieved in 2023.
Putellas links Spain’s success in both the men’s and women’s games to a national relationship with football that begins early. In her view, parents increasingly put a ball at the feet of both sons and daughters, helping create a culture that has made Spain a reference point across the game.
