From Barcelona To...

Chapter 5 - World Record

So here we are, at 24 years old. I still have 2 years left to run on my contract at Barcelona. They knew I wanted to go back to England at some point and so tied me down into a long term contract at my last extension, hoping to cash in a bit rather than let me go on a free transfer as they knew I would more than likely want to go back home before I was 26.

As I always promised, I had been open and honest with them and I felt I was ready to finally go back home to England and test myself in the WSL. We had won the league multiple times at Barcelona and the Champions League too, a moment in which I will never forget, it was honestly the best day in my life winning the Champions League, we beat Chelsea 4-0 and I scored twice and provided one assist, picking up player of the match. Honestly, I still pinch myself to this day when I think back to it. How did little old me from Yorkshire manage to bag herself a contract at Barcelona at the age of 18 with no prior professional club experience and went on to win a Champions League. Mind boggling.

Anyway, little did I know when I mentioned about Barcelona hoping to 'cash in' on me that it would become such a prominent moment in women's football...

A number of clubs are battling for the signature of Barcelona sensation Ellie Jones, it is almost certain that the world record fee will be broken and by quite some margin. It is expected that for the first time in women's football the transfer fee for a player will hit £1,000,000. Despite offers from around the world, it is not a secret that Ellie has expressed her desires to return back home to England, so it is expected Ellie will join a WSL club, with that sort of transfer fee you would expect it will be to one of the top four clubs, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City or Man Utd. Who will win the race to capture the most expensive women's player in the world?

Wow. What the actual fuck? I could not believe it. I tried my best not to get sucked into the media hype and pressure, but everywhere I turned its all I could see. The news on the TV, social media, fans, team mates. I couldn't escape it.

I was often quite active on social media, particularly Instagram and TikTok, often making stupid funny TikTok dances with my team mates. I actually wasn't that bad of a dancer, I mean I wasn't the best, but I had a bit of rhythm! At the England camps I was always jumping in TikTok videos with Beth, Mary, Millie and Rach. I loved the fans and I knew how important it was to interact with them. I loved meeting them, signing shirts, getting pictures and actually just having a chat with them about normal things. When I moved to Barcelona I knew I wanted to learn the language and experience the culture as much as I could, as I had now been at Barcelona for 6 years I was fluent in Spanish, they do speak two languages in Barcelona, Catalan and Spanish, but I stuck with just learning Spanish which was difficult enough, especially with my Yorkshire accent.

Although I was comfortable communicating, I struggled a bit with the media part, I had lots of media training at Barcelona but in interviews they often tried to ask me questions about my personal life rather than football. I was ok with sharing elements of my personal life on social media, as I had control over what I shared, but with the media they easily twisted words you would say during an interview.

So maybe now is a good time to let you know a little more about me and my personal life outside of football...