I know it's not quiiiite 2018 yet on the calendar, but any discussions we're gonna be having are for the 2018 season anyway, and it's not like we've missed much yet - of all of the player announcements since the fall, essentially all have been players re-signing with their current club. (Save for the entire KC roster moving to SLC, but anyway...) Only three real "moves" have happened since August, and none from one NWSL team to another: OUT: Henry (FRA/POR) OUT: Nadim (DEN/POR) IN: Taylor (ENG/SEA) And now, we can add another move: IN: Thaisa (BRA/NJ) Brazilian midfielder Thaisa signs with @SkyBlueFC. Details ➡️ https://t.co/d7edduOuDI pic.twitter.com/FAqAmRh9pq— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) December 13, 2017
Good for her, but that's certainly a blow for a Sky Blue club that's not incredibly well-off to begin with. Still no noticeable moves for any American players, NT or otherwise... wonder who will be the first. (I'm guessing one of the ex-FCKC players who doesn't want to stay with UTR.)
And here's the first big intra-league trade ahead of 2018! It's a doozy. One last big move in the #NWSL for 2017:Kelley O'Hara, Taylor Lytle, #25 pick in '18 #NWSLdraft ➡️ @UtahRoyalsShea Groom, Christina Gibbons, #4 pick in '18 Draft ➡️ @SkyBlueFC Trade details: https://t.co/eUoV8eKjxX pic.twitter.com/NsZsI9ICK3— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) December 29, 2017 Called it that UTR would be the source of the first big USA move... And here we also have Sky Blue really wheeling and dealing! Added Thaisa, lost Galton, then made this huge swap.
Very good trade for SBFC. Their team is starting to look deadly especially if Sam Kerr can replicate her form last season. I see Harvey has started to trade away picks in Utah already.
Oooo here's an interesting point: With Pearce’s retirement and O’Hara and Lytle’s trades, Sky Blue no longer has any remaining members of its inaugural 2013 #NWSL squad.— Ali 🟧 (@allibecc) December 29, 2017 I forgot that NJ had already lost Rampone...
That looks like a good deal for Sky Blue to me. Groom is more of a scorer than O'Hara, and Gibbons has a brighter future than Lytle. And SB gets a higher draft pick. However, I've always liked Lytle -- an undrafted player who has had a good career. Maybe she still has some room to grow in Utah -- which is closer to her home in New Mexico.
This seems pretty even to me for both sides. Sky Blue now has picks 4 and 5 in the draft. Yes it might be a weaker draft but at 4 and 5 your still going some of the best players. Sky Blue has a nice group of young players on the squad.
So, uh, about Sky Blue... [rumor?] Féminines : Samantha Kerr (Sky Blue/Perth Glory) prochaine buteuse du #PSG ? https://t.co/oEnBkn47Tk pic.twitter.com/tmaW0bfPMa— CulturePSG (@CulturePSG) December 30, 2017
I can't quite tell from this article whether Kerr to PSG is likely or just speculation. If Sky Blue does lose her in addition to O'Hara, those are big shoes to fill.
I would be more inclined to believe it with the right offer from PSG. Sky Blue could also be fully aware of something like this happening and thus the trade for a forward to replace Kerr while using the # 4 pick to grab one of the top forwards in the draft.
Disappointed. I was hoping she would stick around in Chicago. http://equalizersoccer.com/2018/01/01/morgan-brian-signs-multi-year-contract-to-join-lyon/
I'm definitely disappointed she's leaving NWSL but I'm not surprised at all that she isn't staying in Chicago. I remember reading two different journalists saying, at the time of her trade from Houston, that she didn't really provide anything that would fit in Chicago's system or that Chicago didn't already have.
So than it was a bonehead move by the Red Stars. Mewis was hungry and wanted to be with the Red Stars at the time. I am in the believing that with Mewis on the team they may have made it to the Finals. So now what did the Red Stars get with that move? Nothing. And actually lost something in a quality player in Mewis.
Has Rampone retired? I haven't seen an announcement, and Sky Blue picked up her option for 2018. I know that Rampone told one media outlet last spring that 2017 was going to be her last season, but I haven't heard anything further on the subject.
Maybe not explicitly retired, but all indications seem to point that she's not returning to the club. http://equalizersoccer.com/2017/08/...es-unlikely-untimely-ending-with-sky-blue-fc/ While a lot of talk seems to be that she ended the 2017 early because of age/injuries, there's a strong "we don't want to talk about it" aspect from all parties. She apparently insisted on being listed as having a season-ending injury (and staying away from games) instead of a normal injury report listing, which is odd. With the hush-hush way she faded out in 2017 compounded with the fact that she doesn't seem to be respected as a leader any more, I would be surprised if she's actually back for 2018.
I wish there was more news out there to shed light on some of these moves/transfers. If this was the NFL you can be sure some reporter would have unearthed the "skinny"/"dirty secret"/"undisclosed source" info on some of the goings inside the league. Unfortunately the few reporters that cover the NWSL have to play "nice" otherwise they may get black-balled from the inside track. I want to know what the Red Stars were thinking when they trade for Morgan. I want to know what they are thinking now that this move went south for them. I want to know more info from this league. Stop with all the secrets.
Kelley O'Hara interview. From the sound of it she wanted to go to Utah. https://espn700sports.com/news/kelley-ohara-utah-royals-fc-uswnt-forward-1-3-18/
https://t.co/7dJHyYLP9Y - European WoSo news source Spelare12 is reporting that Dagny Brynjarsdottir has announced she's pregnant.— Chris Henderson (@chris_awk) January 4, 2018 This would explain why she isn't on the latest roster for Iceland.
I think one thing that is overlooked here on behalf of Utah is that they are trying to sell tickets, and getting a National Team player is getting them a lot of media attention.
Oh, isn't she quite young? I mean, good for her, but in other countries it happens more often that a woman have children at the end of her career. I noticed that in USA (yes, I am aware Dagny is Icelandic, but she plays in USA anyway) it seems to happen more often that women have babies in the middle of their careers instead of at the end (many examples come to mind: Christine Rampone, Amy Rodriguez, Sydney Leroux, Stephanie Cox...), while in other continents it's frequent that the pregnancy happens after the player packed-up with soccer (Homare Sawa, Fatmire Alushi...). Is it a "cultural" things? In the sense that in the USA there is more respect (and more support!) for a woman wanting to have children and keeping up with her career anyway, while in other countries it is more difficult (or seen as less "normal") doing that?