Lauri Requena announced her departure from Granada on the day she turned 36.
The press room at Los Cármenes was filled with team-mates, former players, coaches, relatives and club staff. After 13 seasons, the captain was leaving the team for which she had made more than 360 appearances and which she already described as her home, her family and the club of her life.
She did not announce her retirement.
She explained that she needed to take control of her career, experience something new and begin a different chapter. Two months later, FC Badalona Women have given her the place to do it.
The move puts Lauri in a situation she has not known for a long time: being the new player.
The Castilla-La Mancha-born midfielder joined Granada from Fundación Albacete in 2013, just as the Andalusian club prepared for their first season in the top flight. That debut campaign ended in relegation, but she chose to stay.
What followed was a nine-year pursuit.
Lauri remained with Granada through successive reorganisations of the national league structure. The club reached Reto Iberdrola in 2019, Primera RFEF in 2022 and, finally, returned to the top flight in 2023. She had opportunities to leave, but kept working towards the goal of taking Granada back to the division they were in when she arrived.
She also played a decisive role in the moments that changed the club’s history.
In the first leg of the 2023 promotion playoff, she scored the opening goal in a 2-0 victory over Deportivo Abanca. Granada then held firm in Abegondo and returned to the top flight.
A year later, with the team needing to win on the final day to survive, Lauri opened the scoring at Ipurúa. Granada defeated Eibar 0-2 and secured the first top-flight survival in their history.
The reward came the following season.
Arturo Ruiz’s side finished fifth in Liga F, challenged for a European place and reached the Copa de la Reina semi-finals for the first time. For Lauri, who had experienced 11pm training sessions and years outside the top division, that campaign represented far more than one good season.
Her departure cannot be explained by any decline in her ability to compete.
Lauri has played every Liga F match Granada have contested since their promotion: 90 out of 90 across three seasons. Last term, she featured in all 30 league games, scored five goals and provided two assists. She also overtook Alicia Amaro ‘Lula’ to become the record appearance holder in the history of the women’s team.
Her continued relevance changes the meaning of the signing.
FC Badalona Women are not simply recruiting a former captain or a player recognised for her past. They are signing someone who remains a regular starter, still offers a goal threat and has not missed a single league match in three years.
Lauri can play as an attacking midfielder or in a more advanced central role. Her game is built on finding space, combining between the lines and a scoring ability she has preserved throughout her career. At Granada she was also used as the team’s most advanced player, although her contribution was always broader than any single position.
In Badalona, she will have to prove that all of that can be transferred into a different environment.
For 13 seasons, she knew the club, the dressing room and the city. She understood what she represented to the supporters and what the team expected from her. Now she must adapt to new team-mates, a different coach and a project still defining its identity.
She will also have to learn how to lead without being the eternal captain.
There is no need for her to recreate at FC Badalona Women the relationship she built with Granada. That story required 13 years, one relegation, several promotions, survival on the final day and more than 360 appearances.
Her new club needs something more immediate: football, experience and the ability to bring order to a renewed side.
Lauri said she wanted to be remembered for the person she tried to be, rather than for her goals or statistics. She also described leaving Granada as the most difficult decision of her career, but one she needed to make in order to experience something new.
That is what begins now.
At 36, after spending almost her entire professional life wearing the same badge, Lauri has not chosen the easiest route towards the end of her career.
She has chosen to start again.
