London City Lionesses star Jana Fernandez admits Barcelona exit was not her choice | OneFootball

Jana Fernandez left Barcelona for London City Lionesses this past summer

London City Lionesses defender Jana Fernandez is happy with life at her new club, but admitted that it was not her choice to leave Barcelona.

The 23-year-old joined the newly promoted Women’s Super League side during the recent summer transfer window.

Fernandez joined Barcelona at the age of 12, and despite feeling that she one day would play in the Women’s Super League, she didn’t expect to leave the Catalan club so soon.

What did Jana Fernandez say about her Barcelona exit?

In an interview with The Guardian, Fernandez opened up on her “difficult” exit from Barcelona.

Fernandez was one of several players to leave Barcelona this past summer, and she said that the reasons for this are “bigger” than the players.

She said: “It’s hard to talk about because fans got a bit upset with me. I feel sorry about it, but it wasn’t what I wanted.

“People have to know it wasn’t players’ decisions; it was something else. Hopefully, at some point, they will understand, because I love Barcelona. I don’t want anyone to think I wanted to leave. It wasn’t like that; it was something bigger than us and people’s knowledge of the situation.

“But it happened, and you have to accept things. I’m happy here, but it was a difficult time for everybody.”

In separate comments as per DAZN, Fernandez also revealed she hopes to return to Barcelona in the future.

Why did Fernandez leave Barcelona?

Fernandez’s comments to the Guardian hint towards the financial situation at Barcelona as the reason behind her exit.

The salary limit enforced by LaLiga has affected not just the men’s club but the women also.

Barcelona have asked LaLiga to change financial fair play rules by separating the budgets from their women’s and youth teams from the men’s first team.

Presently, LaLiga accounts for the budgets of the women’s and youth teams within financial restrictions alongside the men’s side. This means any signing the Barcelona women’s team makes affects the budget of the men’s side.

This led to an exodus of players from the Barcelona Women’s squad during the recent summer window.

Barcelona started the campaign with only 17 registered first-team players.

Fernandez’s 2025-26 stats

Spanish defender Fernandez has started eight out of London City Lionesses’ nine games in the WSL so far this season.

She has been one of their most important players this season, averaging 3.6 tackles and 2.7 clearances per game.

The defender is only behind Kosovare Asllani (25) when it comes to chances created (10). FotMob has also given her an average match rating of 7.20, only behind Asllani (7.37) and Wassa Sangare (7.27).

London City are sixth in the WSL, just one point behind Arsenal and Tottenham.

Fernandez hopes that the Lionesses can exceed expectations and qualify for next season’s Champions League.

She told The Guardian: “If I’m dreaming, and I’m ambitious, we want to be in the Champions League spots. We’re going to go for everything.”