Chelsea women sign Danish striker Pernille Harder on three-year deal

Chelsea women on Tuesday announced the signing of Danish striker Pernille Harder on a three-year deal.

Chelsea women on Tuesday announced the signing of Dsh striker Pernille Harder on a three-year deal.

The 27-year-old joined the Blues from German side Wolfsburg ahead of the 2020/21 FA Women's Super League season which begins away to Manchester United on Sunday.

"I'm extremely happy and extremely excited to get started, to finally be here and be a Chelsea player. I couldn't be happier," Harder said in a statement.

"I'm excited to just play for such a big club, to play with so many amazing players and to also be playing in the league [Women's Super League]. The English league, it's so exciting at the moment and I'm really looking forward to it," she added.

Harder has spent the past three-and-a-half years playing for Wolfsburg and established herself as one of Europe's top footballers. She was named UEFA Player of the Year in 2018.

Indeed, it was a trophy-laden stint with the leading club in the Frauen Bundesliga, as Harder won the domestic Double in each of her four campaigns at the AOK Stadion, twice finishing as the top scorer in the German top flight. Her tally of 27 in the coronavirus-affected 2019/20 season was the highest by any player in the Frauen Bundesliga since 2010.

At Wolfsburg she found the net 103 times in 113 matches, having previously scored 85 goals in 109 appearances for Linkopings in Sweden, while she averaged better than a goal in each game at Skovbakken in her homeland. She had 25 Champions League goals from 28 games and it is clear Emma Hayes has added another lethal finisher to her already prolific attacking options.

Chelsea FC Women manager Emma Hayes said: "Pernille is one of the best players in the world. Her record at Wolfsburg and Linkopings, as well as internationally with Denmark, shows how valuable she has been to her teams."

"She is a fantastic team player who wants to take her game to the next level. She chose Chelsea as the club that can push her to that level. She can play for any team in the world, but she chose us. She chose the players, the staff, the environment, the playing style. You can't get a bigger compliment than that from one of the best players in the world," Hayes added.

( With inputs from ANI )