Transfer window Q&A: BBC Sport women’s football correspondent Emma Sanders on Alexia Putellas, Katie McCabe and more

As transfer deadline day passes, teams in the Women’s Super League begin their path to the end of the season.

BBC Sport’s women’s football news reporter Emma Sanders joined fans on Reddit to take questions on a range of topics, including how the window works, why Chelsea surprised it, and the future of Spanish star Alexia Putellas.

Below are a selection of questions and Emma’s answers.

Q: As a newcomer to the world of women’s football, I still don’t know how/why some transfer fees are only released and if they are real? Are numbers provided to the BBC through agents, clubs or other means?

whatever: It’s our biggest headache! Clubs do not release any fees, so we have to work hard to obtain this information from our own sources. Some clubs can be helpful and confirm this informally, but we have plenty of scenarios where one club says one fee, and the other club completely disagrees. If it were up to me, FIFA would release them all. I see no harm and it will provide transparency for fans to know where the club is spending its money. It’s the fans’ investment too, after all.

Q: Have you ever been surprised by the transfer process? As if no one had any idea the player was likely to move until it was announced by the club?

whatever: definitely! There aren’t many of us working full-time in women’s football media – especially at national broadcasters and newspapers – so naturally there is a lot to cover ourselves. This makes it difficult to track every movement. To be fair, it’s less so now with the increased coverage of women’s matches – but I was certainly shocked in the past. Most of the time we get rumblings about a player’s transfer, even if we don’t have confirmation from adequate sources or the name of the club he’s moving to.

Q: Have you heard rumors of Alexia Putellas being the Lionesses of London City in the summer?

whatever: I would say it’s going to be a very interesting few months as far as Putlass is concerned. She could choose almost any club in the world, and obviously she could choose to stay at Barcelona as well. The last thing I was told was that she is still deciding her next steps but there has certainly been a suggestion that WSL clubs are interested. The Lionesses of London have money and ambition so I wouldn’t rule them out.

Q: Do you think it’s strange that Chelsea is so quiet?

whatever: very. They are out of the Premier League title race, have injuries in the squad and clearly need to add before the Champions League quarter-finals. I was disappointed.