Chelsea Women Pay Record Fee to Sign Wolfsburg Star Pernille Harder

Harder leaves the Champions League runner-up after a stellar run in Germany.

LONDON (AP) — Chelsea Women signed Denmark captain Pernille Harder from Wolfsburg after paying what the German club said was “a record transfer fee for the women’s game.”

The clubs did not disclose the fee of Tuesday’s deal but media reports say it was about 300,000 euros ($355,000).

The 27-year-old attacker had nearly a year left on her Wolfsburg contract. She signed a three-year deal with the English champions, who are scheduled to begin their Women’s Super League season on Sunday at Manchester United.

“I’m looking forward to winning a lot of titles with Chelsea,” said Harder, who led Wolfsburg to four consecutive German league and cup doubles.

Harder said winning the Champions League is her “highest priority.” She was held without a goal Sunday in Wolfsburg’s 3-1 loss to Lyon in the Champions League final.

“Pernille is one of the best players in the world,” Chelsea Women manager Emma Hayes said. “She is a fantastic team player who wants to take her game to the next level. She chose Chlesea as the club that can push her to that level. She can play for any team in the world, but she chose us.”

Wolfsburg sporting director Ralf Kellermann said Harder approached the team a few weeks ago to propose the move.

“Taking into account the fact that we are dealing with a record transfer fee for the women’s game — without going into the precise nature of the sum involved — and that Pernille was only going to be with us for another 10 months and had just played in the UWCL finals tournament for us, we decided that this was a fair solution for all involved,” Kellermann said.