Chelsea transfer 'like being new kid at school' - Walsh

Keira Walsh has lifted the lid on the emotional turbulence behind her headline-grabbing January switch to Chelsea, describing the mid-season move from Barcelona as “the worst feeling” despite a trophy-laden first six months in blue.

The 28-year-old England midfielder, who already boasts 99 senior caps and a CV glittering with two Champions Leagues, three Liga F titles and a European Championship winner’s medal, arrived at Kingsmeadow in the winter window of the 2024-25 campaign. What followed was an unprecedented domestic treble: the Barclays Women’s Super League, FA Cup and League Cup all ended up in Chelsea’s trophy cabinet, with Walsh integral to an unbeaten league run.

Yet the accolades masked a difficult personal transition. “Nobody likes being the new person at school,” Walsh told BBC Sport. “It takes time to get over it. You don’t have a lot of time to get your life together, and I was moving from one country to another. I’d gone from one completely different style of football back to England. You don’t have that pre-season to get to know the players or the style. And you don’t get a grace period.”

Her candour underlines a rarely discussed reality for even the most decorated professionals. After eight years and a trophy sweep at Manchester City, three seasons of continental dominance at Barcelona, and back-to-back European Championships with the Lionesses in 2022 and 2025, Walsh still felt the vertigo of starting anew.

The trophies, however, have kept coming. On Sunday she could add another League Cup winners’ medal when Chelsea meet Manchester United at Ashton Gate, a rematch of last season’s FA Cup final. The Blues are also chasing a Champions League quarter-final place against Arsenal later this month and an FA Cup semi-final with Tottenham in April, meaning a second successive treble remains mathematically possible even if Manchester City have opened a gap in the WSL.

“It’s very difficult to win the league every year consecutively,” Walsh conceded. “It’s almost unheard of, that’s what is special about Chelsea. We still have the EFL Cup, the FA Cup and Champions League. If we win all three, that will still be a special season.”

Walsh’s experience is mirrored by one of Chelsea’s other marquee acquisitions, 21-year-old United States forward Alyssa Thompson. Signed for just under £1 million in September 2025 – a club-record fee – Thompson has scored six WSL goals this term and was named player of the tournament as the USA swept Argentina, Canada and Colombia to claim the SheBelieves Cup.

“I had low expectations for myself because I was scared about being in England, away from everyone I knew,” Thompson said. “I didn’t know if people would like me. It was daunting because of the calibre of players at Chelsea.”

Despite Chelsea’s heavy investment – they also briefly broke the women’s world transfer record to land centre-back Naomi Girma in January 2025 – results have dipped in the league. Still, Thompson insists the club’s culture of winning remains intact. “Winning at Chelsea is written in the DNA. When you put on the Chelsea jersey, you know what you have to bring.”

History favours the Blues on Sunday: 15 victories and only one defeat in 18 previous meetings with Manchester United. For Walsh and Thompson, two players who once felt like the new kids in the playground, another medal would be the perfect antidote to those first-day nerves.