Chelsea make Khadija Shaw £1m-per-year contract offer, Manchester City stay remains striker preference
Chelsea have made a contract offer to Khadija “Bunny” Shaw worth at least £1million per year with the 29-year-old striker’s Manchester City deal set to expire this summer. Shaw is still leaning towards remaining with City, whom she joined in 2021 from Bordeaux, though City are yet to match Chelsea’s offer, according to multiple sources briefed on the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships. Shaw has also received offers from outside the Women’s Super League (WSL), including Europe and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).
Remaining at City, with whom Shaw has scored 109 goals in 131 matches, remains the player’s preference. However, the situation remains fluid and no decision has yet been made. While women’s football has seen transfer fees surpass the £1m mark, salaries eclipsing the £1m threshold remains a real rarity.
In January, Trinity Rodman’s record-breaking deal with the Washington Spirit made her the highest-paid player in NWSL history, earning more than $2million (£1. 48m) per year The future of Shaw has served as a point of fixation this season as her contract expiration date approaches. In her five seasons with City, Shaw has established herself as one of women’s football’s most comprehensive strikers.
In December, Shaw became the first City women’s player in the club’s professional era to hit the goal centurion mark, doing so in just 120 matches. She has claimed the WSL’s Golden Boot twice, in the 2022-23 season and 2023-24 season, while also holding the WSL record for most hat-tricks (eight, three more than any other player) and the fastest hat-trick (12 minutes and 37 seconds). This season, Shaw has scored 21 goals in 27 matches in all competitions, helping put City in pole position to claim their first league title in a decade.
City are also set to face Chelsea in the semi-finals of the FA Cup on May 10. Chelsea, who look set to lose the WSL title for the first time in seven seasons, have lacked a consistent goalscorer this season, with injuries plaguing Sam Kerr, Aggie Beever-Jones and Mayra Ramirez. Kerr, 32, is set to leave the club at the end of her contract, as reported by The Athletic , while Ramirez, who has yet to make an appearance this season, has been linked with a move away.