Alyssa Thompson's transfer to Chelsea featured all the hallmarks of a marquee signing. First reported to be in the works over a week before it was done, allowing the hype and excitement to build, it was given a dramatic conclusion by being completed right at the Women's Super League's transfer deadline, and for a bumper fee surpassing £1 million ($1.4m) which set a new world record for the women's game at the time. Brought out to greet the fans of her new club at Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea opened their WSL title defence with a statement win over Manchester City, Thompson was given the stage of a true star. But would she be?

Only 20 years old, the Blues were signing a player who was still more of a work-in-progress than an established talent. Thompson spent the first three years of her senior career with an Angel City side often at the wrong end of the NWSL table, making her return of 15 goals and 11 assists in 62 league games more impressive, but still with room for improvement. She was clearly gifted, but how would she adapt to the challenge of playing for a world-class side like Chelsea, while also juggling the difficulties that moving to a new city and new country, some 5,000 miles from home, at such a young age, brings?

Most of the women's game's most expensive signings have been guaranteed performers and that is often the sort of profile Chelsea have often gone for when it has come to big spending, with the likes of Naomi Girma, Keira Walsh and Pernille Harder all joining the Blues for big fees after they had already established themselves as world-class players. The deal for Thompson, then, was a little bit different. However, through the first few months of her Chelsea career, she has shown what the club and many others already believed: that she is certainly capable of hitting those heights, and is well on track to do so.

Getty ImagesQuestions to be asked

When it happened, it was fair to question aspects of this move for both Chelsea and Thompson. Would the 20-year-old get the game time she needed in order to keep developing at the impressive rate she did at Angel City? Or would a smaller-sized step have been better for her, to maintain that trajectory?

On the other side, when Chelsea were handily beaten by Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals last season, one of the main takeaways was that the Blues needed more world-class match-winners in order to close the gap to the Catalans, who have ended their European dream in four of the last five seasons. Given her age and limited experience, Thompson didn't feel like she was that just yet. But would she be expected to be from the get-go? Or could she reach that point quickly?

AdvertisementGetty ImagesChallenges aplenty

It wasn't just that Thompson had a new environment, on and off the pitch, to adapt to, either. She was also joining a Chelsea side that is extremely adaptable when it comes to formation and, as such, requires its players to be able to change position frequently.

At Angel City, Thompson almost always played as a left winger. There were a couple of times where she lined up on the right, even fewer occasions where she might find herself in central areas, and occasions when she would be asked to be a little bit deeper or more advanced than usual. But, generally speaking, the young forward consistently played the same position in her two and a half years in Los Angeles and that no doubt helped her settle into the NWSL nicely, to become a very productive outlet. By contrast, in her three months at Chelsea to date, Thompson has already played as a winger on the right and the left and, most differently, as a wing-back.

Speaking about her United States, and now Chelsea, team-mate on , Girma described Thompson as someone who is "used to being uncomfortable in those environments," after her experiences coming into the NWSL and the international game. Still, this was a move that was going to present more challenges than ever before for her, and all at once.

Getty ImagesMaking her mark

It's to Thompson's immense credit, then, that she is passing these tests with flying colours and showing she can be exactly what Chelsea need. As the Blues' season prepares to hit its halfway stage, with Wednesday's Champions League clash with Wolfsburg and Sunday's League Cup quarter-final against Liverpool all that is left before the winter break, the 20-year-old has nailed down a starting spot in head coach Sonia Bompastor's team, featuring in the XI for each of the last nine matches and repaying that faith with four goals and two assists.

Last month, her sublime strike against Arsenal was named WSL Goal of the Month, while her goal-and-assist display against Brighton on Sunday was right up there with that performance against the Gunners as a contender for her best to date in Chelsea blue, helping her side sign off in the WSL in 2025 with a vital win.

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Getty ImagesLearning and growing

It's clear that having such a settled run in the Chelsea team is helping Thompson find that consistency and she deserves further praise for managing to nail one down, because the Blues have one of the best and most competitive squads in Europe. She's not wasting those opportunities, either, learning as much as possible from every outing in order to keep taking steps forward.

Asked about the biggest differences between the WSL and the NWSL she noticed when moving to England, Girma explained on "Having different styles of games in the league is different. For different teams, you have to prepare different game plans and sometimes a team, especially against a team like Chelsea, will sit in or high press. I think the tactics change a lot. I think that has been different and the preparation for each game."

That's something Thompson herself has noted in these last few months, too. "I feel like every game is different," she said last month. "All of these teams are coming from different leagues so even the fact that we play different styles has helped me a lot in terms of viewing the game tactically. I can see what I need to work on against different teams’ blocks and it helps me show more versatility in my game. Having that every week in the Champions League is really cool."