Brighton Ladies have signed Fran Kirby on a distant switch next the expiry of her Chelsea guarantee.
The 31-year-old England global departs Chelsea as their all-time important scorer having netted 115 objectives in 205 appearances since her arrival from Studying in 2015.
Kirby gained 14 trophies right through a embellished nine-year charm in west London together with seven Ladies’s Tremendous League titles, 5 FA Cups and two League Cups.
She could also be a two-time winner of the PFA Ladies’s Participant of the Week and Soccer Writers’ Ladies’s awards and has gained 70 caps for England, scoring 19 objectives and serving to them win the Euros in 2022.
Kirby admits she would “love” to be concerned at later yr’s Eu Championships however her determination to progress to Brighton was once now not according to that ambition.
Brighton have not begun to expose the field of Kirby’s guarantee.
She informed a press convention: “I’d like to journey to every other Euros however I can by no means bottom my determination at the while.
“For me it’s what’s right for me now and where I feel like I’m going to get the best out of myself. Being close to home and being at a club that wants to push the women’s game is something I wanted to do.
“For me if I think valued in an climate upcoming I do know I’m getting to get the most productive out of myself.
“When I spoke to Brighton they were so complimentary of me as a player and as a person. For me, feeling valued is one of the most important things as a footballer and I felt that as soon as I spoke to them on the phone and got to know the people around the building.
“That was once most certainly my primary explanation why at the back of it however after all I’d find irresistible to do the whole lot I will to be fascinated by every other Euros and support the Lionesses win it once more.”
Kirby also revealed she wanted to remain in the WSL following her Chelsea exit and therefore she “couldn’t flip indisposed” Brighton.
She stated: “I wanted to go somewhere where I could keep my standards up and help bring those standards into another club.
“I sought after to stick on this league as a result of I nonetheless wish to be competing moment in and moment out and so long as I will support a staff walk upcoming that’s what I wish to do.
“When I spoke to Brighton and they told me how the owner was behind the women’s game, how much they wanted to invest in it and push it forwards and seeing the facilities here, for me it was a really exciting opportunity and one that I felt I couldn’t really turn down.”
Zoe Johnson, Brighton’s managing director of girls’s and ladies’ soccer, stated: “We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome Fran to the club.
“She arrives as one of the embellished English footballers of all past, enjoying an integral position in Chelsea’s fresh dominance, in addition to at the global level having been part of England’s Euro 2022 win.
“Her experience on the pitch will be just as important off it and we have no doubt that she will help us take a significant step towards our long-term targets.”