Juventus announce signing of Iceland star Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir

Juventus have announced the signing of two-time Champions League winning midfielder Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir following her departure from Lyon.

Gunnarsdottir has signed a two-year contract with Juve until the summer of 2024 and brings significant experience to a squad looking to bridge the gap on European football’s elite clubs after reaching last season’s Champions League quarter-finals.

The 31-year-old will wear Juve’s number 77 shirt and will link up with her new teammates for the first time after she has played at Euro 2022 with Iceland.

Gunnarsdottir is heavily decorated from a club career that had taken her to Sweden and Germany before moving to Lyon in July 2020. She won four domestic league titles each with Rosengard and Wolfsburg, as well numerous domestic cups and French honours with Lyon.

The player was an unused substitute in this year’s Champions League final as Lyon beat Barcelona.

Gunnarsdottir recently hit headlines when she criticised the choice of stadiums for Euro 2022, calling the use of smaller venues ‘embarrassing’.

Iceland quickly sold out both of their Group D games that will be played at the 4,700-capacity Academy Stadium in Manchester, usually the home of WSL club Manchester City. But a handful of other stadiums being used for the tournament hold more than 30,000 fans.

“[Euros organisers] are not prepared that we will sell more than 4,000 tickets,” Gunnarsdottir told Swedish podcast Their Pitch.

“It's disrespectful towards women's football because it's so much bigger than people think. You think women's football is getting two steps ahead but then something comes up like that it's just a step back.”

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