Brighton Girls have signed Fran Kirby on a free switch after the expiry of her Chelsea contract.
The 31-year-old England worldwide departs Chelsea as their all-time main scorer having netted 115 targets in 205 appearances since her arrival from Studying in 2015.
Kirby received 14 trophies throughout a adorned nine-year spell in west London together with seven Girls’s Tremendous League titles, 5 FA Cups and two League Cups.
She can be a two-time winner of the PFA Girls’s Participant of the Yr and Soccer Writers’ Girls’s awards and has received 70 caps for England, scoring 19 targets and serving to them win the Euros in 2022.
Kirby admits she would “love” to be concerned at subsequent yr’s European Championships however her resolution to maneuver to Brighton was not based mostly on that ambition.
Brighton have but to disclose the size of Kirby’s contract.
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Kirby explains the enjoyment to get a aim on her last look for Chelsea and what it means to depart on a profitable excessive
She informed a press convention: “I would like to go to a different Euros however I’ll by no means base my resolution on the longer term.
“For me it is what’s proper for me now and the place I really feel like I will get the very best out of myself. Being near residence and being at a membership that desires to push the ladies’s sport is one thing I wished to do.
“For me if I really feel valued in an surroundings then I do know I will get the very best out of myself.
“After I spoke to Brighton they had been so complimentary of me as a participant and as an individual. For me, feeling valued is likely one of the most vital issues as a footballer and I felt that as quickly as I spoke to them on the telephone and received to know the folks across the constructing.
“That was in all probability my major motive behind it however after all I would like to do every part I can to be concerned in one other Euros and assist the Lionesses win it once more.”
Kirby helped the Lionesses to Euro 2022 glory
Kirby additionally revealed she wished to stay within the WSL following her Chelsea exit and due to this fact she “could not flip down” Brighton.
She mentioned: “I wished to go someplace the place I may preserve my requirements up and assist convey these requirements into one other membership.
“I wished to remain on this league as a result of I nonetheless wish to be competing week in and week out and so long as I might help a staff progress then that is what I wish to do.
“After I spoke to Brighton they usually informed me how the proprietor was behind the ladies’s sport, how a lot they wished to put money into it and push it forwards and seeing the amenities right here, for me it was a very thrilling alternative and one which I felt I could not actually flip down.”