Ashley Lawrence opens up on Chelsea move and 'full circle' moment with national teammate

Chelsea summer signing Ashley Lawrence has opened up on her decision to join the Women's Super League champions, the team's ambitions to win the Champions League and reuniting with Canadian national teammate Kadeisha Buchanan.

Lawrence, 28, made the move to London earlier this summer after a six-year spell with French outfit Paris Saint-Germain. The defender put pen to paper on a three-year deal until the summer of 2026 as Emma Hayes looked to bolster her already star-studded squad.

She played 180 games for PSG, winning one league title and two Coupe de France trophies in that time. Her move to Chelsea represents the latest step in her career and she outlined her reasons for joining the club when she sat down with the media last week.

"I mean, Chelsea is a top club, in England and in Europe," Lawrence said. "They've been paving the way the last couple of years when it comes to women's football, the standards that they upheld.

"With Emma Hayes being the coach for many years, she's been able to really create a foundation, a strong foundation, and the project's very ambitious and it's a club that I want to be part of. I know that's going to push me in my game and my development.

"The league is very competitive. We see more and more players signing in England, and it's just exciting to be a part of, and especially after the Euros the success of the England team. We could see how much it's helped the league, how much we see the fan base, the crowds playing in big stadiums. It's just exciting. There are a lot of factors but I’m really excited to sign.”

One key reason behind the move was the opportunity to play alongside national teammates Buchanan and Jessie Fleming. Buchanan's career has followed a similar trajectory to Lawrence's and the pair have never been too far apart.

The defender continued: "At this point in our careers it is an added bonus, not only Kadeisha but also Jessie Fleming, two Canadians – there’s a lot of factor that come into it. But it is cool, our journeys started early.

"We’ve been playing together for the last 20 years, we know each other well. That definitely can be helpful on the field because of all that time we have had together.

"We have had the parallels, we went to the same school in the US, then we signed in France, but for different clubs. So always close, but now we are back together. That was funny at the beginning, we had always been on the same team, we were rivals for six years, but now we are back. Its come full circle."

For Chelsea, there will be a huge focus on winning the Champions League this season after they narrowly missed out on a spot in the final last term. They reached the last four, but were edged by eventual winners Barcelona, having already lost a final in the competition against the Spanish side only a few years ago.

"It's not easy in this league, but winning the league, the different cups, and of course, the ultimate goal is to be the European champion," Lawrence concluded. "So in the last couple years we've seen how that has progressed and improved.

"We were more and more consistently getting into semi finals. So now we're really close, just knocking on the door. And that just, again, speaks volumes to the work that has been put in, and the investment by the club, the direction, and by the players, so of course that's the next goal.”