Beth England Joins Tottenham Hostpur For English Record Transfer Fee Of $300,000

England’s striker Bethany England holds up the trophy as England’s players celebrate after their win … [+] in the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 final football match between England and Germany at the Wembley stadium, in London, on July 31, 2022. – England won a major women’s tournament for the first time as Chloe Kelly’s extra-time goal secured a 2-1 victory over Germany at a sold out Wembley on Sunday. – No use as moving pictures or quasi-video streaming. Photos must therefore be posted with an interval of at least 20 seconds. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP) / No use as moving pictures or quasi-video streaming. Photos must therefore be posted with an interval of at least 20 seconds. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

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Striker Bethany England has today become one of the world’s most expensive female players in the world signing for Tottenham Hotspur from champions Chelsea for a fee believed to be in the region of £250,000 ($300,000), a record between two English clubs in the Women’s Super League.

Previously, the signing by Chelsea of Lauren James from Manchester United in July 2021, was believed to be the biggest between two English clubs. In a four-year deal, the English champions are said to have spent £200,000 ($240,000). Now they have sold the player she has ultimately replaced for an even larger fee.

It also makes England one of the most expensive players in the world behind the £400,000 ($480,000) paid by FC Barcelona to Manchester City for her England team-mate Keira Walsh. It is believed that her former Chelsea team-mate, Pernille Harder was bought from Wolfsburg for a fee of around €300,000 (now $317,000) in 2020.

Speaking about her move, England said “it’s obviously a big day for myself, I’m excited to get going. The club’s got a lot of ambition so I’m hoping I can add to that and get the club to where it wants to be. I’ve worked with (Spurs head coach) Rehanne (Skinner) previously with England so I have a bit of background with her, and her ambition for the club, she’s very driven. She’s bringing the club into where it needs to be. I just want the club to know, that I’ll give everything I can for the club and for the badge.”

England has been at Chelsea for six years, joining them from Doncaster Belles in January 2016, signing at least three contract extensions. She had one and a half years remaining on a four-year deal signed in July 2020 which Tottenham Hotspur have had to buy her out from. She has signed a new three and a half year contract at Spurs which runs until June 2026. She will wear the number 19 shirt.

Chelsea head coach Emma Hayes admitted that “Beth has given tremendous service to the club. She has contributed to all of our success over the past seven years and she leaves a winner and a Chelsea legend. We wish her the very best for the next stage of her career.”

Although not always a starter for the English champions during her time there – she was loaned out to Liverpool during the 2017/18 season – England has averaged a goal every other game throughout her career, scoring 56 goals in the English top flight, the Women’s Super League, for Doncaster Belles (2), Liverpool (10) and Chelsea (44).

In the 2019/2020 season, she was Chelsea’s top scorer finding the net 21 times in 25 games, leading them to the first of three successive Women’s Super League titles and scoring both goals as they defeated Arsenal in the Continental Cup Final. She was voted as the Professional Football Association’s (PFA) Player’s Player of the Year and also voted into the PFA Team of the Year.

That year, England also became the first player in Women’s Super League history to score ten goals in three successive seasons – a record since broken by Vivianne Miedema – and remains the only ever player to score in nine successive league games. Her final goal for Chelsea away to Leicester last month was her 17th headed goal in the Women’s Super League, a record by any player.

LEICESTER, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 03: Bethany England of Chelsea celebrates after scoring her team’s … [+] seventh goal during the FA Women’s Super League match between Leicester City and Chelsea at The King Power Stadium on December 03, 2022 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Harriet Lander – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

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However, that goal was her only so far this season having just appeared in six games all season. Despite scoring twice in her last game for the England national team against Luxembourg in September, she subsequently lost her place in the Lionesses’ squad due to a lack of playing time. Although part of the victorious squad that won the UEFA Women’s Euro last summer, England did not play a single minute at the tournament as Alessia Russo usurped her as the first choice option off the bench, scoring four goals as a substitute.

The 28-year-old England did not make her international debut until immediately after the previous World Cup finals in 2019. Despite an impressive record of 11 goals in her 21 international appearances, she may have sensed her last opportunity to play at the world’s biggest tournament was slipping away from her. The move to Spurs which will ensure more playing time in the first team, will give her every opportunity between now and the end of the season to score the goals which will push England back into the England reckoning.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/asifburhan/2023/01/04/beth-england-joins-tottenham-hostpur-for-english-record-transfer-fee-of-300000/