Aitana Bonmati has refused to rule out a transfer to the WSL regardless of signing a brand new long-term contract with Barcelona.
The Ballon d’Or winner has lately put pen-to-paper on a bumper four-year cope with Barca, the membership she has performed for since 2012 when she joined as a youth participant.
Whereas the prospect of being a one-club participant is interesting to her, Bonmati, 26, insisted the lure of the English league is a sexy one.
Talking completely to Sky Sports activities Information on the EA FC25 launch in Madrid, she mentioned: “Yes, that would be nice to be a one-club player.
“For now, I have been enjoying for Barcelona since I used to be 13 years previous. It could be good if I might finish my profession like this… however you by no means know.
“I might by no means shut the door. You by no means know what may occur sooner or later. However for now, I am right here for 4 extra years, so I need to take pleasure in.
“[The WSL] is a league that’s so good as a result of England are investing quite a bit in ladies’s soccer for the reason that Euros – I can’t say the identical about right here in Spain.
“Of course, it’s a league that we have to keep watching, to be like them for helping women’s football grow.”
Gamers within the prime tier of ladies’s soccer in Spain have ended a strike after reaching an settlement over pay. The ladies’s sport in Spain has been by way of a turbulent time previously yr.
Luis Rubiales, the previous president of the Spanish soccer federation, is because of stand trial for kissing a feminine participant after Spain received the Ladies’s World Cup.
The 46-year-old kissed Bonmati’s teammate Jenni Hermoso on the lips following Spain’s 1-0 win over England final August in Sydney – sparking outrage throughout the soccer world.
Hermoso, 34, has testified in court docket that the kiss was not consensual. Rubiales faces one depend of sexual assault and one among coercion for his alleged actions within the aftermath of the kiss.
In September final yr, the primary spherical of Liga F fixtures final weekend had been postponed as a result of strike motion over pay.
Liga F and the unions representing gamers finally agreed to boost the minimal wage from £13,700 to £18,000 a yr. It is going to enhance to £20,200 by the 2025-26 season.
By comparability, evaluation from the BBC in 2022 revealed that the common pay within the WSL was £47,000 per yr – with salaries starting from £20,000 to £250,000.
In England, many Premier League golf equipment have opened their dwelling stadiums for some ladies’s video games with Arsenal recurrently seeing 60,000-capacity crowds – setting a file on February 17 with 61,160 at their match in opposition to Manchester United Ladies.
Aitana Bonmati received her third Champions League in 4 years with Barcelona in the summertime
It is for all these causes that Bonmati feels England is main the way in which for development and development within the ladies’s sport.
She mentioned: I’d say that England is an instance off the sector. Barca as a membership is similar, however I’d say England as a rustic.
“They won the Euros and took this as an opportunity to invest and help to grow women’s football. And they are doing things so good – they are putting a lot of people in the stadiums.
“They’re opening their (males’s groups’) stadiums each single week – that is so good.
“Also, they are investing in brands, publicity and marketing. They are an example for everything.”
Recognition and publicity for girls’s soccer is rising. Bonmati was talking on the launch of the FC25 sport, which options ladies’s groups.
Actually, the Spain worldwide is the third-best participant in the entire sport with a score of 91 – just under Kylian Mbappe and Rodri, however above Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham.
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Barcelona’s subsequent opponents, Manchester Metropolis, beat West Ham to go prime of the WSL desk on Sunday
Bonmati believes the promotion of ladies’s soccer on such a preferred is “important” within the development of the sport.
She mentioned: “I think it’s important to women’s teams in the game because it’s a game that a lot of people play. And a lot of people know us from the game.
“It is necessary and we now have to say due to EA Sports activities to contain the ladies’s soccer as a result of it’s a nice sport to indicate ladies’s soccer.
“My ratings are not bad! I think because I am short player my defending is not so well. I don’t agree with that – but the other (ratings) are so good.”
Subsequent yr, Bonmati and Spain will likely be seeking to grow to be European champions on the Ladies’s Euros in Switzerland. However she is aware of they are going to face stiff competitors from the reigning champions England.
She added: “England and Spain are two of the most important teams of course but these kinds of tournaments are so difficult to win with a lot of games, so we will see.”
