Alexia Putellas leaves Barcelona after 14 years amid link to London City Lionesses

Barcelona have announced the exit of their talismanic captain, Alèxia Putellas, after the expiration of the two-time Ballon d’Or winner’s contract at the end of the season.

The 32-year-old, who was born in Mollet del Vallès, just north of Barcelona, spent 14 years at the Catalan club making 507 appearances and scoring a record 233 goals after joining from Levante in 2012 aged 18.

London City Lionesses, the WSL club owned by the billionaire investor Michele Kang, have been ­heavily linked with a move for Putellas, ­however they are unsurprising not alone in their interest in the player.

London City have made no secret of their desire to bring Putellas to London though and with Kang’s deep pockets, a Spanish coach, in Eder Maestre, in place, former Barcelona player Jana Fernández already at the club and Mapi León believed to be joining, there is plenty to interest the mercurial midfielder.

Putellas helped Barcelona to a quadruple this season, clinching their fourth Champions League title with an emphatic 4-0 win over Kang’s French team, OL Lyonnes. In addition to that success on the European stage, Putellas collected 10 league titles, 10 Copa de la Reina titles, and seven Copa Catalunya titles during her time at Barcelona and has been key to driving standards at the club and in Spain more widely.

She became the first Spanish player to win the women’s Ballon d’Or in 2021 and retained her crown the following year.

On the international stage, an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury sustained on the eve of the 2022 European Championship denied her a chance to compete in the tournament, where Spain were beaten by England in the quarter-finals. However, she went on to win two Nations League titles, lifted a first World Cup title for her country in Australia in 2023 (with Spain beat England 1-0 in the final), and finished as a runner-up to England at the 2025 Euros.

Putellas’s exit marks the end of an era for Barcelona, with León, Marta Torrejón, Salma Paralluelo and Caroline Graham Hansen all also out of contract in the summer and only the latter two expected to renew. Putellas will be given a send-off by the club on Wednesday morning at the Camp Nou, in recognition of her contribution to the club and the legacy she leaves on both Barcelona and women’s football globally.