In January, Alisha Lehmann leaves Como after just six months and signs a contract with Leicester City until the summer of 2028. It is certainly not a success story. The season ends with relegation.
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- In winter, Alisha Lehmann leaves Como after just six months and joins Leicester City.
- The 27-year-old didn't win a single game with the Foxes and was relegated. She missed the all-important duel in the battle to stay in the league due to injury.
- Overall, Lehmann experienced a footballing year to forget. In her private life, however, she found happiness.
After the European Championship at home, Alisha Lehmann moves from Juventus to Como. There she wants to give her career a new boost in the fall of 2025, because in Turin she usually only makes partial appearances. Two goals and one assist at the end of the season, too few for an attacking player. And yet she made it into the European Championship squad, but even there she only made two brief appearances.
In Como, Lehmann is set to become the figurehead of a new project. The club is dreaming big and Lehmann should and wants to help make these dreams come true. She has come to stay. Shortly after her transfer, she enthuses about her new home and the project: "Como Women doesn't just want to win, it also wants to change the game, on and off the pitch. I felt this was the right place to express who I am - both as an athlete and as a person."
The adventure doesn't get off to a bad start. On September 14, she scored her first goal in her third game. Como celebrated a 1:0 win against Inter Milan in the Cup - thanks to Lehmann. But things did not turn out as either side had hoped. The 27-year-old lost her starting place after just a few appearances and left Como after just six months, perhaps because of this. The fact that she was also burgled at the end of November may have further tarnished the image of beautiful Como.
Ultimately, only Lehmann herself knows the real reasons for her move. The fact is, however, that the attacking player did not score a single point for Como after her star turn in the Coppa. And so the chapter came to a lackluster end at the beginning of this year. A move back to the island followed. Lehmann, who had already played for West Ham United, Everton and Aston Villa in England's top division between 2018 and 2024, signed a contract with Leicester City until the summer of 2028. She announced the transfer the day after her 27th birthday.
Lehmann relegated with Leicester
The Foxes are ninth in the table at this point. They are five points behind eighth-placed Brighton, the same amount as the lead over bottom-placed Liverpool in 12th.
It soon became clear that Leicester had to look down rather than up. Lehmann, who sometimes starts and sometimes comes off the bench, leaves the pitch a loser every time. Of course, this is not primarily down to her, but she is also unable to give the team the impetus it had hoped for. And so it is that Leicester finish the season in last place. Nine points before her arrival, nine points at the end of the season. Liverpool, previously bottom of the table and ultimately second-last, are eight points ahead.
However, Leicester could still have ended the season on a positive note. Thanks to the increase in the league from 12 to 14 teams, the team at the bottom of the table was not directly relegated this season. But it was not to be. Leicester City lost their clash against Charlton Athletic, third in the second-highest division, after a memorable penalty shoot-out. Only one of Leicester's five shooters scored. And Lehmann? She misses the most important game of the season due to a calf injury.
The fans carry Lehmann on
Lehmann, who really only wants to be a footballer, has long been much more than that. Some love her more than anything, others would prefer never to see her on the pitch again. This was demonstrated at the beginning of May when she was awarded two prizes. In a fan poll, she won the award for the team's best player and Lehmann of course also scored the "Goal of the Season".
It's not really a cream goal (see video below), but the long-suffering fans didn't have much of a choice. Leicester have only scored 11 goals in the league all season, and six more in the cup. Whether they deserve the award or not is in the eye of the beholder. But what Lehmann certainly doesn't deserve is to be ridiculed for it with below-the-belt comments. And yet this is exactly what happens time and time again.
What happens next?
The question that many are now asking themselves: Will Lehmann stay at Leicester City or will there be another fresh sporting start? She has not yet made any public statements on the matter. There are certainly plenty of doors open, because whoever signs Alisha Lehmann will not only gain a lot of attention as a footballer, but also new fans.
The women's national team will play their next international matches as part of the World Cup qualifiers. On June 5, Switzerland will play Malta in Lugano at the opening of the new Cornaredo Stadium and four days later away against Northern Ireland. Whether with or without Lehmann will depend above all on the severity of her injury. In her last five appearances for the national team, the 27-year-old has made a name for herself on the pitch with two goals and an assist.
But it would be fitting for this jinxed football year if she were to miss the upcoming games, as she did the last two against Turkey, through injury. But as the saying goes: bad luck in the game, good luck in love. And she has indeed found her new great love this year.
