Humble & sweet, but a lion – the story of the first female £1m player

Olivia Smith has already made history.

The 21-year-old has a legacy before she steps out in front of Emirates Stadium’s crowd for the first time on Saturday as the first £1m women’s footballer.

Arsenal broke the world record to sign her from Liverpool in July and, although it has since been surpassed, she will forever be the women’s game’s first seven-figure player.

“Everything was leading to this. She was born for this,” her former Penn State University head coach Erica Dambach told BBC Sport.

“Yes, it’s happened young, but it hasn’t happened without years of preparation to get into this environment.

“Sometimes when it happens to young players, it comes on quickly and maybe they’ve got six months to deal with the emotions and the media training. Liv has been experiencing this stuff since she was 15 years old.”

It was at that age she made her debut for Canada – the youngest player to appear for Les Rogues – so the scrutiny and bubbling pressure that will come after signing for the European champions will not be an alien experience for Smith.

Despite her meteoric rise, her former coaches say she has not changed.

When Liverpool were on the verge of breaking their transfer record – with Smith arriving on Merseyside to complete her medical in a £210,000 deal from Portuguese side Sporting – then-manager Matt Beard met his new prodigious signing in person for the first time over dinner.

“I like to get to know people as people rather than footballers, because I know the footballer that we signed, and we had a lot in common, it was surreal,” Beard told BBC Sport.

“She’s just a great kid, she’s very down to earth. But we just hit it off really well. She’s great, and the thing with Olivia is she just takes everything in her stride.

“She’s a kid at heart. She’s human and I think from my perspective I tried to allow everyone to be themselves and she settled in really quickly. That’s just how her personality is.”

The relationship that built between player and coach was deep and, even after both departed Liverpool, they stayed in touch. Smith called Beard to thank him after her new club Arsenal’s pre-season game against Tottenham Hotspur.

This is a common trait of the Canadian. Smith texted Sporting’s head of women’s football, Margarida Batlle y Font, after her move to Arsenal and also visited AFC Toronto this summer to meet Marko Milanovic and Billy Wilson, two people who played an instrumental part in her development when they were all at North Toronto Nitros.

“The best thing about Olivia is she’s still just Liv,” Wilson told BBC Sport. “She’s not changed at all. She’s still got the exact same group of friends.

“She’s just a kid who loves to love life, has a great outlook, loves her football, is always smiling.

“She’s not changed a bit and I think that’s the biggest testament to who she is. None of this has fazed her.”

Her parents have played a vital part in their daughter’s impressive rise and have been there to support her along every step.

Sean Smith and Sulee Riquelme-Smith were also at that dinner table in Liverpool – along with the forward, Beard and Russ Fraser, Liverpool’s former women’s managing director – and that will hardly surprise anyone who has followed the player’s career.

“The mum and dad have done an unbelievable job in preparing her for this,” said Beard. “They’ve made a lot of sacrifices as a family.

“They have done a fantastic job raising her and preparing her for this moment as an athlete.”

As a child, her passion was always football. Her parents encouraged her to follow her other interests, which have in turned helped her grow as a footballer.

“She played numerous sports such as hockey, and she did a martial arts discipline,” said Beard.

“I just think that education alone, if you are looking at martial arts as a sport, it’s more about discipline and it’s not about the fighting side of it… that’s obviously benefited her.

“Smith has – which I never, ever want to take out of players, and you saw it a few times [last season] – a frustration. And I think the top players are like that. So you don’t want to take that out.”

Batlle y Font also got to experience the big role that Sean played in his daughter’s career on the day Smith signed for Sporting, her first move to Europe.

“Her dad is a figure a bit like the father of Venus and Serena Williams,” said Sporting’s head of women’s football.

“He was that kind of mentor to her when she was young and still keeps being on her side. He was very proud of Olivia.”

In 2022 Smith was playing at North Toronto Nitros. She ripped League1 Ontario up.

By the time the semi-professional league came to an end, she had scored 18 goals in 11 games and it would be the last time playing club football in her home country.

That summer she moved south of the border, to Penn State University in Pennsylvania. Again, her time there was fleeting.

Despite arriving at Penn State with a serious cruciate ligament injury, sustained at the Under-20 World Cup, and a frail run of form, the calls from Europe arrived by the end of her freshman year.

“It was neat to watch her be able to be an 18-year-old because I don’t think there’s been a lot of times where she’s been able to be her actual age,” said former Penn State University head coach Dambach.

“Since leaving Penn State she has put herself out there and put herself in uncomfortable situations and I think through those she was able to really grow and develop.”

And so, one year on from that season in Canada, she had left college and moved to Portugal to join Sporting, despite heavy interest in France and England.

Batlle y Font was instrumental in persuading Smith to move to the relatively obscure Portuguese league – and reaped the rewards.

“I won’t say that our project is better than those clubs, obviously it’s different,” said the 30-year-old. “I think she understood that we really wanted her.

“I think that she chose us because she understood that she would have the same rights and same duties as other players, but she would not be one more player.

“Once she made the decision, we never felt that she was looking at us as a minor club, compared to the other clubs interested in her.”

It did not take her long to make an impression in Portugal.

“She was 18 and she was playing against experienced players and she would make a bit of a fool of them.

“When she played we would look at each other and say, ‘how did we fool this girl to be here? How lucky are we?'”

Again by the end of another fruitful season, she was packing her bags and Batlle y Font was receiving enquiries from multiple clubs in Europe.

“There were more clubs interested and, to be honest, with better offers than Liverpool, but not the kind of project that Olivia wanted,” said Batlle Y Font. “Once again, this shows how very grounded Olivia is.”

Her debut season in the WSL saw her score seven goals in 20 games for Liverpool, as well as being named the PFA young player of the year. When she arrived at Arsenal this summer, it was her third club in three years.

“I definitely think it’s not comfortable, but you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable,” said Smith, speaking to reporters in pre-season. “And it’s been quite tough for me personally, not knowing what’s going to come next.

“Like my first season, I never expected to leave after one season, especially last season, only having one season in what I think is the best league in the world and then coming here.

“So it’s certainly not easy, especially with my family so far away, but it does make transitions easier.”

This summer has shown the rapid growth of the women’s game. Smith’s world record transfer lasted 35 days, with Orlando Pride signing Lizbeth Ovalle for £1.1m from Tigres.

But Smith will always be the player who was the first to breach the seven-figure mark, like Trevor Francis in the men’s game in 1979, and that comes with its own, unique pressure.

“It’s definitely an honour, especially coming from Liverpool,” said Arsenal’s new forward.

“To come with, obviously, such a hefty price tag for such a young player like me, I think they see the potential that I have, and they see my mindset.

“I’m hungry, I’m driven, I want to learn, I want to grow, and I want to win things, ultimately.

“And I think that was a big piece. But with the money, it’s not really a big deal for me.”

For those who have worked with her, they believe this money will be justified with her performances on the pitch and that she will use the price tag as motivation.

“She just had everything at that age,” said Beard. “For me, she’s going to be the best player in the world without a shadow of a doubt.”

Wilson added: “It’s an amazing mentality and some players when they get there, they stay on that limit. She is always trying to overcome limits. It’s hard to be consistent and she is consistent.”

And for Arsenal, they should have the luxury that Penn State, Sporting and Liverpool were not able to have – more than a year with Smith in their side.

“We knew that she would be [at Sporting] a short time and now Arsenal know that they can have her for quite a while because she’s reached the top of European football,” said Batlle y Font.

“I have no doubt that even though she’s just got to the Champions League winners, she will keep pushing.

“She’s very humble, she’s quiet and she’s a sweet girl. On the pitch, she’s a lion.”