The England forward Fran Kirby says she “still has so much more to give” and wanted to stay in the WSL, after signing for Brighton on a free transfer following the expiry of her contract at Chelsea.
The 31-year-old, who helped Chelsea win all seven of their WSL titles, also says hearing of the passion for women’s football among Brighton’s board was a key factor in her decision.
The signing of Euro 2022 winner is arguably the biggest in the history of Brighton’s women’s side, who finished ninth in the WSL last season, and she was also persuaded by the quality of their facilities. After investing £8.5m in the site, Brighton opened a state-of-the-art women’s training facility adjacent to their men’s in 2021, and Kirby said the building – including the spa, which she joked about planning to live in every day – was the “green light” for her to sign.
“It’s really special,” she said. “You can see why so many players choose to play for Brighton. I don’t think I’ve ever seen, in the women’s game, such amazing facilities. I think Brighton is ahead of what Chelsea was then [in 2015] in terms of the facilities and structure behind the women’s game.”
Kirby admitted it would be “weird” to come up against Chelsea after nine years with the club. “Chelsea helped me achieve things I could never have dreamed of doing when I first joined the club. I have so many fond memories with people there.
“I still feel I have so much more to give on and off the pitch. Last year I was restricted with minutes in terms of how much I was able to give and show. Hopefully now I can get a good pre-season under my belt, a run of games and show that side of me. I strongly believe I still have a lot to give.”
Kirby, who has 72 caps, is understood to have attracted interest from several other WSL clubs but was impressed by the focus that senior Brighton figures such as the owner, Tony Bloom, and chief executive, Paul Barber, put on the women’s side. “You know it’s not just a tick-box to have a women’s team,” she said. “Hearing that they’re fully behind the women’s team was definitely a marker for me to say: ‘Yeah, OK, this is a serious women’s football club and they want to be taken seriously.’
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“[When speaking to a club], you hear very early on how much the board and the owner is behind women’s football. I think a lot of clubs say it, but you’re like: ‘Do they really care? Are they actually investing in the women’s game? Do they see it going somewhere?’ Here you kind of get a real sense of: ‘OK, this is a real thing.’ When I spoke to Brighton and my old teammate Maria [Thorisdottir, the Norway and Brighton defender], and I asked her about the club, it was a really exciting conversation.”