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‘No, I can’t, I’m sorry, it’s a secret!” Mapi León roars with laughter, in response to being asked what persuaded her to join London City Lionesses. Does this bode badly for our interview? Fear not, the Spain centre-back is in as banterous and jovial a mood as you could imagine any new signing to be, as she embarks on her first major interview since signing for the Women’s Super League club.
Across the course of our conversation, in bright sunshine outside a quiet hotel near Maidstone, it is evident that the 31-year-old could scarcely be happier about her decision to swap Barcelona for south-east England. She is sorely missing her cat, Bagheera (“Here, you ask for so many things for pets, you can’t [really] fly with them, it’s so many documents, so many things”) but, that aside, she is buoyant, relaxed and clearly embracing English life. She says she likes the “little bread” in the morning, and we eventually establish she is referring to crumpets, and reveals: “I like the beans in the morning. It’s really interesting. My Spanish teammates like Alexia [Putellas] and Jana [Fernández] are like: ‘What are you doing eating beans in the morning? You need to train.’ I go: ‘No, it’s fine I like it.’”
However, English breakfasts were surely not what attracted her to Kent to play for London City Lionesses so, returning to that first question, she explains thoughtfully: “My body was craving something different. I spent many years in a comfortable position, because playing at Barça has been absolutely wonderful and very nice; it is a style of game that suits me a lot and coming to England, the football is very different from the Spanish one, at first glance. So, I think [the reason was] being able to challenge myself and see if I am capable. I am going to make an effort to adapt to this league and also to show myself that I’m able to compete in another style of play that is not the one that makes me stand out the most.”
An undisputed club legend at Barcelona, León certainly stood out in Spain as the best ball-playing centre-back of her generation, and won seven league titles, seven Copa de la Reina’s and – most impressively – four Champions League titles, during a nine-year period of relentless dominance with Barcelona, whom she joined from Atlético Madrid in 2017.
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This summer she was one of four members of the Spain starting XI that beat England 4-0 in June in Mallorca to leave Barcelona, together with Arsenal’s new signing Ona Batlle, OL Lyonnes’ new winger Salma Paralluelo and, most notably, her London City Lionesses teammate Alexia Putellas. Together, León and Putellas drew raised eyebrows across the women’s game by swapping the reigning European champions for a lesser-known team that finished sixth in the WSL last term, but they have been joined by a series of other world-renowned names including the former England goalkeeper Mary Earps and the France winger Kadidiatou Diani.
The club’s new signings meet the vision of their ambitious owner, the American businesswoman Michele Kang, of whom León says: “The impression I get is of an empowered woman, with a winning mindset, driven by a desire to see things improve and a drive to win. And that is a competitive and winning mentality. And if in the end, I want to be part of it because it is a club created for women and that is not common, I think it is beautiful and exciting.
“Everything counts when you make this kind of a decision, and of course, [Kang] was an important part because seeing another woman doing so much to help women’s sports, and women’s football grow, I think it’s impossible not to value that. I think it’s something very powerful.”
The club’s signings of Putellas and León were announced five days apart in July, which prompts the question: did they discuss their decision with one another and was it a case of “If you go, I’ll go too”?
“No, not really, no. I think we take the issue of personal matters very seriously,” León says. “It’s a very different challenge. You come from a league where you win every year. Where you have achieved great things internationally and you come to a club that finished mid-table with some different challenges. And I think it is a very personal decision for each individual to make, choosing what is best for you personally.
“[You ask yourself] what do you really need right now? What is your body telling you? What do you think is best for you to keep improving, to keep pushing yourself, and to maintain that ambition? And I think each person needs different things. So, there wasn’t much communication between us. And that the decision wasn’t planned.”
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The more she reflects on her move, the tactical differences between Liga F and the WSL become clear as a key factor, as the Zaragoza-born defender continues: “The English league can give me a lot. You can learn a lot. The transitions, the style of play, playing with more space. The pressing is different too because I’m used to teams often sitting back in a mid-to-low block, whereas here, it’s probably more of a high press. I’d like to bring a bit of calm to the game.
“I don’t know if that really fits with English football, but no, of course, I don’t want to change the system, but simply the timings as a centre-back. I am a centre-back so I see everything. And I like to control a little bit of the timings so maybe we can try to have a little bit more of the ball. Or there are many spaces, so we can go. So I like to have a bit of control.
“The league is so competitive, the commitment the league is making, the clubs, I mean, I think everything makes it very attractive to come because I have been following the English league over these years and it feels like it can’t let you relax even for a second, not in any match, not during the match. Not a single second can relax you, because the English league is much more competitive.”
Her new side open the season at home to Manchester United on 4 September. Until then, she is embracing a comparatively quiet life and enjoying not being recognised in public, adding: “It’s so different [here]. It’s not a bad thing but, I can just walk to buy food, and no one recognises me! And sometimes it’s nice, because in Barcelona we are not ‘famous’ but people know us. It’s one of the many amazing things. But also sometimes you miss this freedom. Like, just go and shop.”
How long that newfound anonymity will continue is hard to tell, as it will surely not take long for León to become one of the most recognisable faces in the WSL if she can bring her form for Spain and Barcelona straight to London City Lionesses. For now, she can enjoy her beans and her crumpets in peace.
