The Orlando Pride hit the headlines on Monday, with the third-place NWSL club reportedly close to finalizing a deal to sign Tigres UANL star Lizbeth Ovalle on a world-record $1.5 million transfer fee.
According to ESPN, the reigning NWSL champions will sign Ovalle to a guaranteed three-year contract, with the transfer fee paid out in three equal annual increments to the Tigres — in part to help Orlando stay under the league's team transfer spending limit.
The Liga MX side reportedly also negotiated a 10% sell-on fee as part of the transfer deal.
Better known to US fans for scoring the first of in Mexico's two goals in El Tri Adelitas' 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup group-stage upset win over the USWNT, the 25-year-old attacker made 58 international caps for Mexico, netting 20 goals in those appearances.
Suiting up for the Tigres since her professional debut as a teenager in 2017, Ovalle has helped her club claim six Liga MX Femenil titles as well as other domestic hardware, including a trio of Campeon de Campeonas trophies.
If the deal goes through, Ovalle's transfer fee will break the current women's soccer record set by Arsenal last month, when the Gunners shelled out over $1.3 million to roster then-Liverpool forward and Canadian international Olivia Smith.
The $1.5 million figure also dwarfs the Pride's previous transfer record, more than doubling the $740,000 Orlando paid Chinese club Shanghai Shengli to sign Zambian star striker Barbra Banda in March 2024.
Liverpool FC attacker Olivia Smith is on track to become the new highest-value player in women's soccer, as the 20-year-old Canadian reportedly nears a record-breaking deal to transfer to reigning Champions League winners Arsenal.
Smith will be making the Arsenal move for a reported transfer fee of £1 million ($1.4 million), breaking the $1.1 million record set by USWNT center back Naomi Girma's transfer to Chelsea earlier this year.
The young forward first landed in Liverpool in July 2024, joining the WSL following a breakout first pro season with Portugal's Sporting CP, where she led the team with 13 goals and earned the league's 2023/24 Player of the Year title.
With seven goals in 20 appearances in her 2024/25 debut WSL campaign, Smith's scoring accounted for almost one-third of Liverpool's 22 total goals on the season.
Arsenal's willingness to ante up to roster Smith is indicative of the women's game's rising transfer fees.
Prior to Girma's big move, the NWSL's Bay FC owned the transfer fee record, having shelled out a reported $860,000 to sign Zambia forward Rachael Kundananji from Spain's Madrid CFF in February 2024.
Smith's transfer indicates a new willingness to spend at the highest levels of women's soccer — as well as Arsenal's ambition to remain at the top of the sport.