Chris Atkins, the agent who sealed Racheal Kundananji‘s world record $785,000 move to Bay FC, told ESPN that the reason the NWSL expansion side sees so much value in her is largely because of her ability to bamboozle defences.

Atkins, who first spotted the now-23-year-old Kundananji in 2018 and has been her agent for the entirety of her professional career, expects her to justify her fee, which broke the previous record by nearly double.

“There are only a limited number of players in women’s football worldwide who can provide what she can in terms of one-on-one dribbling ability, goalscoring, the ability to break a defence when they’re well-organised,” Atkins, who helped launch her career by securing her 2019 move to Kazakhstan’s BIIK Kazygurt, told ESPN.

“There’s really not too many and that’s why you see such high value being placed on those players – because they’re a rarity at the moment.

“I’m sure more and more will come through in future years, but when teams are well-organised – well-structured – someone who can kind of unbalance the defence is gold dust and obviously, Racheal is able to do that just through her intelligence, but also her athleticism and dribbling ability.”

Atkins revealed that another NWSL club met Kundananji’s release clause, which at the time was €300,000, but she was not ready to leave Madrid CFF.

“There was an offer from another team in NWSL this time last year – early January or late December [2022] where it actually matched her release clause at the time, which was €300,000,” Atkins revealed.

“Madrid fought to keep her and at that time, she had only been there six months. She opted to take a renewal on her contract and stay and I think at the time, it was the right decision. She obviously finished the season incredibly well and has really built a name.

“Then, in the summer, there was heavy interest from a couple of teams in England, but also calls from France [and] from teams in Spain, but the money was prohibitive, basically, so they didn’t get to the point of an offer being tabled to Madrid. Bay were the second team to make a formal offer to Madrid despite a lot of interest.”

Commenting on the interest from other clubs that never materialised, and her ultimate decision to move to Bay, Kundananji said: “I just fell in love with the team and it came as a surprise… There were so many teams that have come my way, but with this team, it was just different.

“When we were growing up, we used to hear people say nice things about the [United] States. I was like: ‘One day, I will just go to America, live there, get married there and live my life,’ but when I was growing up, things started changing a bit. I stopped thinking of going there.

“But after some time, I started having some opportunities to go to America and I was like: ‘This is now my chance,’ even though at first, I had to turn down. Last year, I was supposed to come, but I had to turn it down, because I didn’t feel like it was the right time to make a move.

“This time, there’s something special about Bay FC.”

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Kundananji’s agent reveals her ‘shock’ in finding out world record fee

Football agent Chris Atkins explains why Bay FC paid a world record fee for Racheal Kundananji.

According to Atkins, part of what sets the club apart is their willingness to invest in African players, and aside from Kundananji, the signing of Nigeria and former Barcelona star Asisat Oshoala made headlines in January.

He continued: “I think there’s been some stereotypes that have persisted in women’s football about African players and therefore, I think it’s been a certain type of club – slightly below the elite – that has been willing to take the risk on African players previously.

“They see them as that type of player that can do something by themselves and win a match maybe individually, but you haven’t seen the top European teams, maybe until [Tabitha] Chawinga [at PSG], take a chance on an African player, so I think there’s still work to do on that side.

“That’s why Bay signing Asisat Oshoala, Racheal and also Princess Marfo, a younger player, is really encouraging in terms of a top club who are willing to give those opportunities.

“I think there’s more work to be done on that side. I think there are still stereotypes about African players that exist on the women’s side, as well as on the men’s.”

While Oshoala excelled at Barcelona before her move to Bay, even the six-time African women’s footballer of the year struggled for game time towards the end of her stay in Spain.

Fitting both Oshoala and Kundananji into the same team may prove to be a challenge, but Kundananji has made the task significantly easier by indicating her willingness to play in multiple positions.

Although she prefers to play down the middle, she has featured out wide for the Zambia national team in order to complement fellow star striker Barbra Banda.

“I can play any position as long as I’m given that task to play in that position. For the national team, we have so many strikers and so few wingers who are strong, so that is why I play on the wing – but I’m a striker,” Kundananji told ESPN.

When asked if she knew what Bay’s plan was to utilise her and Oshoala within the same squad, she said: “Not yet, but I’m planning to [find out]. As long as I’m with the team, no problem – I can play any position.”

The transfer fee makes it clear that Kundananji is truly valued at Bay, regardless of how they use her, and Atkins backed her to adapt to the pressure that comes with such a high-profile move.

“She was shocked [when she found out the transfer fee], but she was happy. She has taken it in her stride,” Atkins said.

“She’s not a particularly outgoing person, but she’s a very confident individual, so she, I think, was initially a little embarrassed by it as well, but obviously delighted that someone had put that kind of value on her.

“She’s not going to be a player who is fazed by that fee from my knowledge of her. She’ll take it in her stride, she’ll put it aside and she will – as I think she has already said – try to carry on what she was already doing in Madrid. That’s very much Racheal – she just looks at the day to day more than anything and leaves me to do the longer-term thinking.”

In the long run, Atkins certainly sees the transfer record falling again due to the growth of women’s football, although he warned that transfer fees in the women’s game will still not radically change overnight.

He said: “I think they’ll increase. I think exponentially might be a bit much, because I think there might be a limit in terms of what teams are willing and able to spend, but NWSL has increased their salary cap this year and I think there are plans to increase it in the future.”

“There’s obviously an influx of money there from the US side,” said Atkins when asked what he expects from women’s transfer fees over the next World Cup cycle.

“They signed a TV deal worth $60 million a year for the league, so that’s [almost] four and a half million per club just off the TV deal without other sponsorships and stuff, so there’s plenty of money coming from that side. England has been the other major driver of financial investment into women’s football.

“I think it will carry on increasing. I expect this transfer record to potentially go in 12-18 months. It could be as soon as this summer. It really depends on the type of players available and the teams’ budgets who are in the market. Within 18 months, for sure, I can see it being beaten.”