Canada forward Olivia Smith became the most expensive player in women's soccer history at a reported one million pounds (US$1.34 million) when Arsenal signed her from Liverpool on Thursday.
The new benchmark in women鈥檚 soccer would surpass the 900,000 pounds ($1.1 million) Chelsea paid when from the San Diego Wave in January.
Smith's four-year deal highlights the increase in spending in women's soccer, with transfer records regularly broken.
joined Bay FC from Madrid CFF for a record $788,000 last year, and that figure was quickly exceeded by Girma's move to Chelsea.
As recently as 2020, the most expensive women鈥檚 player was Denmark鈥檚 Pernille Harder, who for $355,000.
England鈥檚 Keira Walsh left Manchester City for Barcelona in 2022 for a deal worth $513,000, and Chelsea broke the record again in 2024 when signing Mayra Ramirez from Levante for $542,000.
The 20-year-old from Whitby, Ont., has rapidly risen since developing in the United States college system.
Smith joined Sporting Clube in Portugal in 2023 and scored 16 goals in 28 appearances in her debut season.
She moved to Liverpool last year, scored nine goals in 25 games, and was voted Liverpool FC Women鈥檚 2024-25 Player of the Season.
Smith is also Canada's youngest international after making her debut at 15 in 2019.
She has three goals and three assists in 18 senior appearances for Canada.
鈥淥livia is an exciting young player and we believe she can make a big contribution here at Arsenal," head coach Renee Slegers said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been impressed by her mentality and character, excelling in two European leagues at such a young age.鈥
Arsenal is a 15-time English champion and won the Champions League for the second time in its history last season.聽
Despite Chelsea being the dominant force in women's soccer in England, Arsenal is the only English team to win the Champions League.
鈥淚t鈥檚 my dream to compete for the biggest titles here in England and in Europe and I鈥檓 excited to get started and contribute to doing that here with Arsenal," Smith said.
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