{"id":53241,"date":"2026-07-10T16:06:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/53241\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T16:06:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:06:43","slug":"alexia-putellas-interview-on-london-city-move-its-a-new-adventure-a-new-chapter-of-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/53241\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexia Putellas interview on London City move: \u2018It\u2019s a new adventure, a new chapter of my life\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alexia Putellas has not been home since early June. By the time she walks into The New York Times office in Manhattan, more than a month has passed in a blur of airports, hotel rooms and timezones. It\u2019s her last stop before returning home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am really tired,\u201d the former Barcelona midfielder says as she takes her seat in a corner room overlooking the edge of Times Square.<\/p>\n

Plenty has transpired in the 32-year-old\u2019s life this summer \u2014 including emotions that she still needs to digest.<\/p>\n

In May, Putellas won her fourth Champions League title. A few days later, she said goodbye to the club she had spent the last 14 seasons growing. At the time, her next step in soccer was still unknown.<\/p>\n

She traveled to Venezuela, where\u00a0devastating earthquakes struck while she was working events<\/a> for her Eleven Foundation and the Liga Monumental. She then made her way to the U.S. for, among other things, a chance to watch Spain\u2019s men\u2019s at World Cup in Los Angeles. The day before we talk, she was at the W Hotel in Union Square alongside multi-club owner Michele Kang for her official unveiling as a London City Lionesses player<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Alexia Putellas spent 14 years at Barcelona before saying goodbye to the team at the end of last season. (Shuran Huang \/ The Athletic)<\/p>\n

The two-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner looks different from her farewell event at Camp Nou two months ago, when she was surrounded by the 38 trophies she helped win. Not physically, but in the way she carries herself. She smiles easily. There is a quietness about her that feels tranquil. She looks like someone who has closed one chapter and is ready to embrace the next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am at peace because I\u2019ve chosen the best moment to leave something that any of us would never leave,\u201d she says. \u201cI understood that the option to continue was blurring everything that had happened before.\u201d<\/p>\n

As New York carries on outside the windows, her calm stands in stark contrast to the car horns and chaos of 8th Avenue as she reflects on leaving Barcelona, starting over in England and why, after everything she has achieved, she still believes the most meaningful challenges lie ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about appearances; it\u2019s about me,\u201d she continues. \u201cI really value having accepted that there is an end, and not having had that ego that says, \u2018No, there\u2019s no end for you.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing how to make choices, believing that I\u2019ve chosen the best option to be happy and find new challenges, new motivations,\u201d is what motivates Putellas into her next chapter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n London City announced the signing of two-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner Alexia Putellas in New York. (Shuran Huang \/ The Athletic)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re nearing the end of your career \u2014 though I don\u2019t know when that will be, because I\u2019d like to play until I\u2019m 37 or 38 \u2014 you need to find new dreams and new motivations, and discover something you haven\u2019t done yet. I\u2019m very calm, at peace, and mentally prepared. I\u2019m confident in what has worked for me so far in my career, and I enjoy doing it \u2013 which is the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putellas is a competitive force and has lived and breathed football for as long as she can remember \u2014 an obsession that has driven her in everything she has done.<\/p>\n

However, at the peak of her career in 2022, after winning her first Ballon d\u2019Or, an ACL injury ruled her out of the European Championship. The injury forced her to slow down and changed her from within.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mentality changed. You never know what going to happen, so you have to enjoy every moment, enjoy every game, you don\u2019t know when it will be the last one,\u201d she says. \u201cSince then, I\u2019ve been living, enjoying everything as it was the last.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first goal after the injury was to compete again at the highest level, then to be able to be key in the squad again and then to win everything. Only three seasons after my ACL injury, all of that happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her last season with Barcelona, Putellas wondered, after more than a decade fighting for the same goal, reinventing herself along the way, if she would have the same mentality to do it all again. She had been leading the next generation, but last season, they showed her they were able to lead the team to win it all again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it was my heart, it would say, \u2018Be there (in Barcelona), it\u2019s your home, you have your family, you feel the colors,\u2019 but my head told me that it would be the perfect ending,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s what I thought after the Champions League final.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Alexia Putellas last season with Barcelona was one of her best as she became the club\u2019s second leading goalscorer behind Lionel Messi. (Pablo Rodriguez \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Retiring with Barcelona was never an option.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever. The way I understand Barca, it\u2019s to give 100 per cent in everything,\u201d Putellas explains. \u201cMentally and physically, it is very difficult to give your 100 per cent in everything during 14, 15 or 20 years. I\u2019ve always said that, at the moment I had doubts, I would make a step aside because I would never want to be a problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a moment when the team needs a change. It\u2019s normal, it\u2019s life. Everything has a beginning and an ending. What happened between that beginning and that ending is what really matters. And I\u2019m very proud and very happy about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

This does not, however, mean she is not ready to give everything she has to her new club, London City. Owned by Kang, London City will start their second season in England\u2019s Women\u2019s Super League as the only independent club in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not just one reason,\u201d Putellas says of her decision to join the project at London City. \u201cGoing to another league, to the WSL, is a motivation. All of the games are competitive. I want to try that kind of competition in a league.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Spanish league, it\u2019s different. I don\u2019t want to say it\u2019s better or it\u2019s worse, but it\u2019s different. We reached a level with Barca where there\u2019s probably a gap with the rest of the teams. I want to try to give my 100 per cent because the other teams and mine are pushing me to give everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother reason was that it\u2019s an independent club, a young club. It\u2019s the beginning, I want to contribute and give them whatever I can to make the team grow. There is no men\u2019s team behind it. Everything is different from what I\u2019ve been living in Barca.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she has played in front of record crowds of 90,000 at the Camp Nou with Barcelona, that isn\u2019t how the club started.<\/p>\n

Finish The Sentence with Alexia Putellas<\/p>\n

Rachael Tinde<\/p>\n

\u201cThe emotions I felt playing in a full Camp Nou. If I transport myself there, I can still feel it\u201d, she says. \u201cWhen I started, we had 200 or 300 people watching the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

London City\u2019s Hayes Lane in Bromley provides a similar challenge with a capacity of about 6,000. It\u2019s a challenge Putellas is looking forward to.<\/p>\n

On the field, she is ready to challenge herself the way she has her entire career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI challenge myself to have the level that I have now as much time as possible, understanding that at some point the performance would decrease due to age,\u201d She says. \u201cIt motivates me a lot to see how far I can go, without setting limits, but on the contrary, looking for where they are and pushing them more and more. And yes, I\u2019ve won everything, but something I have never won is the WSL, the most competitive league and the most difficult to win, because any team can beat anyone. That\u2019s one of my biggest motivations right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her motivations match the team\u2019s goals, but she says they must be realistic as building a new club takes time. It\u2019s a process \u2014 something Putellas knows well.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Winning the league) could happen this season, but you have a lot of teams in the WSL that have been doing this for a long time, so it would be a challenge,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The midfielder is willing to play several roles for the team, whether that\u2019s as a No 9, a winger, an organiser or a scorer. \u201cI do what is needed for the team.\u201d (Though she says her best version is as a central attacking midfielder.)<\/p>\n

While there were offers from teams across the world, including Boston Legacy and other teams in the U.S. league, the ability to be a short plane ride from her family was also a draw.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a long trip,\u201d she says. \u201cThose are the reasons. It\u2019s not about money because if it was, I wouldn\u2019t be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, money isn\u2019t an issue when it comes to Kang. The billionaire businesswoman has shown she is willing to invest in women\u2019s soccer from her clubs, including OL Lyonnes and the Washington Spirit, to her research into women\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n The move to London City is one that Alexia Putellas sees as an evolution of her career. (Shuran Huang \/ The Athletic)<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it because she succeeded in the business industry and now she\u2019s fully committed to women\u2019s football,\u201d Putellas says. \u201cThe more people interested in women\u2019s football, the better we will be. I\u2019m really happy to help her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kang launched a $55 million initiative with U.S. Soccer to establish the Kang Women\u2019s Institute. One of the aims, addressing the high rate of ACL injuries in female athletes, is particularly close to Putellas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what we need in the game, more research, more investment, more people that want to know what is happening, not just in injuries, but in everything,\u201d Putellas says.<\/p>\n

After recovering from own ACL tear, Putellas returned to the top level. She had one of her best seasons in recent years, scoring 20 goals in 43 games, putting her in contention for a third Ballon d\u2019Or. This season, she became the second-highest goalscorer in the club\u2019s history, behind only Lionel Messi with 672.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fought a lot against that injury,\u201d she says. \u201cI worked a lot every day. Even on my days off, I was at the gym or with the physio. I did that for four years, that\u2019s a lot. To achieve that level and be myself again, I\u2019m very proud of what we did and what we achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Alexia Putellas won 38 trophies with Barcelona, including 10 league titles. (Joan Valls \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Those accolades include four Champions Leagues, 10 league titles, 10 Copa de la Reina titles, four Spanish Super Cups with Barcelona, and one World Cup and two Nations Leagues trophies with Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI live a lot in the present. Now I am enjoying this interview, being in The New York Times for the first time,\u201d she says. \u201cTomorrow, I will remember it with nostalgia. I am super nostalgic, but in a sense of how cool it is to live it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner is facing the most unusual summer of her career. For the first time, she is set to start a season away from home.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarcelona is my childhood club, my family. It was a dream. I\u2019m very proud of what we made after these 14 seasons, what we won, what we\u2019ve changed, how we\u2019ve inspired young girls and also young boys,\u201d Putellas says. \u201cI really hope they keep winning. I have friends there, so I wish them the best and I will support them from a distance.\u201d<\/p>\n

It feels strange, but she is motivated. \u201cIt\u2019s like a new adventure, a new chapter of my life,\u201d she says. \u201cI kind of reinvent myself professionally and personally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexia Putellas has not been home since early June. By the time she walks into The New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,22436,14086,1743,3509,15035],"class_list":["post-53241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-barcelona","tag-london-city-lionesses-lfc","tag-nwsl","tag-soccer","tag-womens-soccer","tag-womens-super-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}