Brighton Ladies have signed Fran Kirby on a free switch after her Chelsea contract expired.
The 31-year-old England worldwide has scored 115 objectives in 205 video games since becoming a member of Chelsea from Studying in 2015, changing into Chelsea’s all-time high scorer.
Kirby spent 9 superb years in west London, profitable 14 trophies, together with seven Ladies’s Tremendous League titles, 5 FA Cups and two League Cups.
She additionally gained the PFA Ladies’s Participant of the 12 months Award and the Soccer Writers Ladies’s Award twice, and made 70 appearances for England, scoring 19 objectives and serving to them win Euro 2022.
Kirby admitted she would “love” to play in subsequent 12 months’s European Championships, however her resolution to maneuver to Brighton was not based mostly on that ambition.
Brighton has not disclosed the size of Bryant’s contract.
She advised a press convention: “I might like to play in one other European Cup, however I might by no means decide based mostly on the longer term.
“For me, it is the best factor for me now and I really feel I will attain my full potential. Being near house and becoming a member of a membership that wishes to push the ladies’s sport is what I wish to do.
“For me, if I really feel valued in an setting, then I do know I’ll carry out the very best in myself.
“Once I spoke to Brighton, they had been very complimentary of me as a participant and as an individual. For me, feeling valued is among the most essential issues as a footballer and after I spoke to them on the cellphone, I felt like I bought to know the individuals across the constructing.
“That is in all probability the primary motive why I am doing it, however I would actually love to do no matter I can to get entangled in one other European Cup and assist the Lionesses win it once more.”
Kirby additionally revealed she “could not say no” to Brighton as she needed to remain within the WSL following Chelsea’s exit.
She stated: “I wish to go someplace the place I can preserve my requirements and assist carry these requirements to a different membership.
“I wish to keep on this league as a result of I nonetheless wish to play each week and so long as I will help the crew enhance, that is what I wish to do.
“Once I spoke to Brighton they advised me how the house owners had been supporting the ladies’s sport and the way a lot they needed to take a position and drive it ahead and to see the amenities right here, for me it was a really thrilling one. The chance, I assumed it was a really thrilling alternative that I actually could not flip down.
Brighton Ladies’s Normal Supervisor Zoe Johnson stated: “We’re delighted to welcome Fran to the membership.
“She is among the most embellished English footballers of all time, having performed an integral function in Chelsea’s latest dominance and, on the worldwide stage, being a part of England’s success at Euro 2022.
“Her expertise on the courtroom is simply as essential off it and we’ve got little doubt she’s going to assist us take essential steps in direction of our long-term objectives.”