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For Canadian defender Kadeisha Buchanan, deciding to leave Olympique Lyonnais, the only professional club she has ever known, was a difficult choice.

But was she happy she no longer had to speak French?

“Un petit peu, oui,” she joked. “My French is not the greatest.”

Earlier this month, the 26-year-old centre back announced she was signing with Chelsea FC after spending nearly six years with the French club.

“It was very difficult,” Buchanan said of the decision. “Being with that club, my very first club, and the accomplishments I achieved, the people I've met, the group of girls that were there – it’s definitely sad leaving them.”

Buchanan joined Lyon in 2017 after finishing her collegiate career with West Virginia University.

“I came to Lyon to grow as a player and I think I'm in a good form right now,” she said. “I think that Lyon helped me a lot, but I think it’s come to a point where it's time to take the next step time, to move on.”

The native of Brampton, Ont., enjoyed a wildly successful tenure with Lyon, capturing the league title five times, along with another five UEFA Women’s Champions League titles and three French Cups. She made more than 100 appearances for Lyon across all competitions, also recording three Champions League goals.

“I think I fulfilled all my goals in France and at Olympique Lyonnais and I think it was just time for a different change, different scenery,” she said. “I just feel that it was the right move for where I'm at now with form and mental state, physical state.”

Buchanan captured her fifth Champions League title just last month, when Lyon defeated Barcelona, the defending champions, 3-1 in the final. The Canadian played 76 minutes after coming on in the 14th minute as an injury substitution.

“After the fifth championship, I said, ‘Okay, this is the perfect time to go out on a high note and continue on with my career,’” she said.

“I think Kadeisha was ready for a new challenge,” Bev Priestman, head coach of the Canadian women’s national team, said on a media call last week. “What I do know with Kadeisha is when she is challenged, she really rises. I think she'll enhance that Chelsea side and is probably a little bit of a jigsaw piece that potentially has been missing.”

Before signing with Chelsea, Buchanan was rumoured to be linked with other major clubs like Real Madrid and Arsenal. While she said she looked at other options, the reports were off base.

“I was laughing when I saw those. Where do they get these rumours from?” she said.

Buchanan ultimately landed on Chelsea for the club’s winning pedigree. The Blues have won the Women’s Super League title for three straight seasons, and in 2021 advanced to the Champions League final, where they lost to Barcelona.

“There's a lot of great teams and a lot of teams were looking, but I felt that I fit best at Chelsea,” she said. “Chelsea is a winning team. I think what's left for them is to win the Champions League, and I feel that I can try and help the team achieve that goal, achieve my goal, of winning a Champions League somewhere other than with Olympique Lyonnais.”

Priestman said she believes this move will help Buchanan better prepare for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.

“I think the move is going to stretch her and stretch her and stretch her,” Priestman told TSN. “And already in training, I can see Kadeisha has come in with a mindset where she's hungry, and she's ready and excited for this next challenge.”

Despite Buchanan coming into Chelsea with a wealth of experience, she hesitates to label herself as a veteran.

“I feel like there's a lot of players that have been playing pro soccer longer than me, on their national team longer than me, so I wouldn't say I'm a veteran,” she said. “But I definitely feel like I do have experience of obviously winning and playing at a Champions League final.”

One veteran that Buchanan has learned from is Lyon’s long-time captain, Wendie Renard, a fellow centre back who has won a record 14 French league titles and eight Champions League trophies. After Lyon’s latest Champions League victory, a behind-the-scenes video showed Renard and Buchanan sharing a special moment, with the captain embracing the Canadian.

“Wendie [is] a great captain, great leader, a very motivational person throughout France, not just in our team,” Buchanan said. “She's a great player, very professional, which I loved a lot about her. She knew when to be serious but knows when to have a little bit fun and let loose. She had a great balance and I definitely admire that about her.”

Buchanan will join Chelsea later this summer before the team heads to the United States for the Women’s International Champions Cup, where she will have a chance to play her former team when the tournament gets underway on Aug. 17.

Before that, Buchanan is on international duty with Canada. The team plays a friendly against South Korea this Sunday at BMO Field in Toronto before heading to Monterrey, Mexico for the CONCACAF W Championship, which serves as both qualifiers for next year’s World Cup and the 2024 Olympics.

Canada plays its first game on July 5 and is in a group with Costa Rica, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. The top two teams from the group automatically qualify for the World Cup. The winner of the tournament earns an Olympic berth, with the second- and third-place teams advancing to a playoff later this year.

Buchanan, who has 118 caps for her country, knows the expectation is for the reigning Olympic gold medallists to qualify for next year’s World Cup, but she says her team isn’t looking that far ahead.

“I think what we do so well is we take each game at a time,” she said. “I think when we just focus on each game, next task, I think that's what makes us be successful, because we're always in the moment. We never surpass the moment.”