Chelsea have confirmed the signing of a 26-year-old Canadian international Kadeisha Buchanan on a three-year deal from Division 1 Féminine club Olympique Lyonnais. This is not Chelsea’s first signing of this season, but actually their second, after they announced the signing of Ève Périsset from Bordeaux 2 days ago.
After signing with the Blues, she said: “I am coming to Chelsea with the same ambition I always had – win trophies and become the best in the world. The club has everything in order for us to compete in every competition and it’s time to bring a Champions League trophy to London. I’m hoping to bring my experience to the team and continue on the successful pathway that the club has been on for the past seasons. I can’t wait to join my new team-mates and the coaching staff on this journey.”
Buchanan will wear the number 26 at Kings Meadow, the first player to do so since former Chelsea captain and legend John Terry. She will likely play at centre-back for Chelsea, considering that it is her preferred position and Chelsea love to have competition and rotation at centre back.
She has won 5 Champions Leagues, 5 D1F titles, has been Canada’s player of the year 3 times, 8 other individual honours and 6 other team honours, her trophy cabinet may be full. But she’ll be looking to buy another one if Hayes’ side have the season they want.
Chelsea manager Emma Hayes commented on this, saying, “Kadeisha is a serial winner at the top of her game and I have no doubt we are signing a world-class player who has proven herself on the world stage. ‘She is going to bring a quality to our group and with her brilliant personality and character, we think she will be really liked within the dressing room. We look forward to welcoming Kadeisha this summer.” Emma loves trophies, and she’s bringing in yet another serial winner to bolster the squad’s dressing room
SUMMARY OF HER CAREER SO FAR
Buchanan started her youth career at Brampton Brams United in 2004, around an hour away from her birthplace of Toronto. She stayed there until 2010, moving to Mississauga based club Erin Mills, a club which she left in 2013. She also played football at her secondary school, Cardinal Leger, as well as other sports, such as flag football, basketball and volleyball.
After leaving Erin Mills, Kadeisha went to college football, playing for the Mountaineers at West Virginia University. She won 3 Big 12 Conference titles in 4 years, with West Virginia topping the regular season table in all 4. She left in 2016 as she had to move into the professional game.
Kadeisha had brief spells in the W League and the semi-professional ‘League1 Ontario’ during her time at the university. She only played 6 matches however, with 4 of those coming from her spell with the Toronto Lady Lynx in 2013. The other two were 1 game spells, one of those was for Vaughan Azzuri, with that game being a 9-0 victory.
Up to this, she was teammates with Canadian left-back Ashley Lawrence, with the pair playing together since their days in Brampton and moving as a duo. However that ended, as Ashley moved to PSG, and Buchanan moved to Lyon. So maybe Chelsea fans could be looking over their shoulder to see Lawrence join her friend Buchanan at Kings Meadow. You never know.
Anyway, she had 5 trophy filled years at Lyon, where she formed a back two with Wendie Renard or Griedge Mbock Bathy. She won it all there, and the silverware must have been fun to win. But after winning everything possible with Lyon, she moves onto a new challenge, in the WSL with Chelsea. Will she be able to rise to the challenge? Despite the answer seeming obvious, only time will tell (look at Parris’ time at Arsenal so far!).
