Who is Olivia Smith? Arsenal's new £1m woman who could become a superstar | OneFootball

Canada forward is one of the brightest young talents in women’s football

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Olivia Smith has played just 1,578 minutes of top-flight football, but that was enough for Arsenal.

Smith joined Liverpool for a club-record £210,000 just last summer. Their return on investment a year on is enormous and speaks not only of her immense potential but of Arsenal’s great faith in her becoming a superstar.

Those who have worked with the forward have long known she was destined for the very top.

Smith has signed a four-year contract with Arsenal

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

She joined the Canadian national team programme aged just 14. A year later in 2019, she became the youngest player ever to feature for the senior men’s or women’s national team - a record unlikely to be broken.

While her £1m fee is sure to be broken at some point, Smith being the first transfer to hit that milestone is significant.

It is a signal of the exponential upward trajectory the women’s game continues on, just as when Naomi Girma’s January transfer from San Diego Wave to Chelsea made her the first $1m women’s footballer.

Forty-six years after Trevor Francis became the first men’s British footballer to command a £1m transfer fee, this is a watershed transfer between two WSL clubs.

Liverpool were almost powerless to prevent Smith’s exit when offered these that sort of money, and were extremely reluctant to do so. It is little wonder.

Smith’s ability to glide across the pitch and then change pace in an instant proved almost impossible to thwart in the WSL last season.

Smith's move breaks the record set by Chelsea in January when they signed Naomi Girma for £900,000 from San Diego Wave

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

A fan of the Cruyff turn or a sudden burst forward, Smith’s challenge is to remain such a devastating livewire for a team that tends to have much more possession.

The open space was there to dart into at Liverpool - she may have to create it herself with the Gunners.

Smith, who can finish clinically off both feet, saw her career really take off during the 2023-24 season with Sporting in Portugal, for whom she scored 16 goals in 28 appearances.

Last season, she scaled new heights once more. No Liverpool player scored more than her, touched the ball in the opposition box as much, took as many shots, or converted at a higher rate. She was the standout player in a team that did not stand out.

Now, Arsenal hope she will to shine in the red of the European champions.