Mariona Caldentey explains why she feels more noticed at Arsenal than Barcelona | OneFootball

After winning everything at Barcelona, Mariona reveals how her move to London brought unexpected visibility, even before her Champions League success with Arsenal.

Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images

Mariona Caldentey now has a full season under her belt in England after leaving Spain on a free transfer. Speaking to El País during Euro 2025, the 29-year-old acknowledged the personal impact of switching leagues.

Asked if she felt she gained visibility after leaving Barcelona, Mariona replied, “Yes. When you go out, other people know you, they see you from another league, and that, on a personal level, on an image level, has made me grow, without a doubt.”

“When you are at Barça and there are so many stars, those spotlights, deservedly, are very spread out. Having won the Champions League and with the trophy for the best player in the [English] league, I do notice that there has been a change.”

The Spain international, who joined Arsenal last summer after a decade at Barcelona, helped her new club win the Champions League in her first season, beating her former side in the final. That same campaign saw her voted the best player in the Women’s Super League.

Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images

Despite being deployed in a less favoured role at Euro 2025 by Spain coach Montse Tomé, Caldentey has remained central to the team’s attacking threat. Starting as a false right winger in the opening 5-0 win over Portugal, she assisted both Vicky López and Alexia Putellas. “I’m trying to train it and automate it. The players I play with make it easier for me,” she said.

Now one of the leading candidates for the Ballon d’Or, Caldentey remains focused on collective success. “I think, like my colleagues, about winning the Euro. It’s a nice goal that we haven’t achieved. The important thing is the collective prizes,” she said when asked if winning the tournament would help her win the individual accolade.

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On the pitch, Caldentey admits that adapting to the faster, more direct tempo of English football has pushed her to develop. “I prefer to give the balls than run them, but if I have to run some I also do it. And I have to say that at Arsenal, in general, the idea of football is to play.”

Spain face Belgium on Monday in their second group game of the tournament, with Mariona likely to start once more, hoping to help her country lift the trophy for the first time.

Only five countries have won the women’s Euros since it began in 1984 – Germany, who have won it eight times, Norway, who’ve won it twice, the Netherlands, who won it when it was first expanded to 16 teams, Sweden, who won the first ever women’s Euros, which featured only four teams, and England, the current holders.