Three NWSL trades that could define the 2025 season

The Guardian

14-03-2025

Shocking trades used to be a staple of the NWSL offseason. Thankfully, these moves will no longer surprise the players themselves, with the league agreeing to new rules that require players' consent to get moved. This long overdue transition away from the stone age means that everyone who changed teams this offseason did so because they wanted to, and there were still plenty of major moves.
A handful of those players looked for a change in order to reinvigorate their careers after 2024 didn't go according to their plans. Here are three of the biggest moves, and what you can expect from them on their new teams.
San Diego Wave to North Carolina Courage
Jaedyn Shaw is just 20, and she's already an extremely accomplished professional. She boasts 24 caps and eight goals for the USWNT, an Olympic gold medal, and an NWSL Shield and Challenge Cup. However, a tumultuous club situation has caused a career plateau. She's hoping that a change of scenery will make that plateau a very short one.
It's very difficult, bordering on unfair, to judge any San Diego Wave player on their production last season. Head coach Casey Stoney was fired midseason, and was followed by two separate interim bosses who failed to improve the team's form. Former club president Jill Ellis has been sued for alleged discrimination and harassment, and has countersued one of her former employees for alleged defamation of character. These legal cases are ongoing, and Ellis has since departed San Diego for a job at Fifa.
It is not yet clear in legal terms who bears responsibility for a poor working environment at the Wave, but in less than legal terms, it is plainly obvious that the vibes were bad. North Carolina have capitalized on the situation, sending $450,000 plus potential add-ons to San Diego to acquire Shaw.
The combination of off-the-pitch issues, limited personnel and a relatively defensive style of play made it difficult for Shaw to show off her talents in 2024. She was a respectable, but not spectacular 55th percentile in expected assists and 50th percentile in shot-creating actions relative to other midfielders in the 'top nine' leagues tracked by FBRef. The fact that Shaw was San Diego's leading scorer with four goals while she was expected to be the team's top playmaker highlights the problem by itself – she lacked great attacking options to pass to, and had to do a lot herself.
Shaw was a stunningly low 10th percentile in progressive passes received, though that could be down just as much to her teammates struggling to get her the ball in the final third as it was to any deficiency in her game. This will be an interesting thing to keep an eye on in North Carolina – was this a San Diego-specific problem, or is movement off the ball to make herself available for passes an area of Shaw's game that needs significant work? Shaw was also just eighth percentile in progressive carries, and needs to become more of a threat to break lines with her dribbling to become a truly elite advanced playmaker.
As good as Shaw is, her fit with the Courage isn't obvious. She doesn't seem to solve any existing problem they had, but I understand why they didn't care. If you're told Shaw is on the move and you're one of the teams she's willing to join, you make an offer, period. Prior to last season, she looked like one of the world's best young playmaking talents.
Courage head coach Sean Nahas now has an interesting puzzle on his hands: how does he get so many true No 10s to fit together? Incumbent central attacking midfielder Ashley Sanchez was arguably the team's best player last season, and faced a similar problem to Shaw – she was the team's leading scorer while ostensibly being the main playmaker. Manaka Matsukubo and Shinomi Koyama have also played most of their professional minutes in a No 10 role, and will need to get comfortable in different positions to lock down starting jobs.
North Carolina may be a much different cultural and emotional situation for Shaw, but many of the on-pitch concerns are the same. Can the deeper-lying midfielders get the ball to her in dangerous areas? Does she have an effective center forward to set up for chances? For Shaw to get back to her best with the Courage, some of her teammates will need to show new dimensions to their game we haven't seen before.
Bay FC to Angel City
The NWSL abolished the draft this season, meaning graduating college players can negotiate to sign with any team they want. Savy King was taken second overall by Bay FC a year before this change, and requested a trade to her hometown team this offseason. Bay obliged, sending King to Angel City for $300,000.
King is just 20 and has played 33 times for the USWNT at under-17 and under-20 level, starting at left-back during last summer's Under-20 World Cup. Her situation is similar to Shaw's – it's easy to see why Angel City would want to acquire her, but it's not clear if she'll be able to win a starting job for the team.
Incumbent left-back MA Vignola has been a bright spot for Angel City over the last two seasons, earning her USWNT debut in 2023. She's suffered from some injuries, so it makes sense that Angel City would want some additional cover at the position, but King is unlikely to be handed a first-choice role off the bat.
Last season, King began the year as Bay's starting left-back, then left for the U-20 World Cup and did not regain her position after returning. She didn't make a start over the final 10 games of the season.
King is a high volume ball-winner and talented one-on-one defender. She was in the 90th percentile in tackles + interceptions and in the 89th percentile in tackles won percentage, according to FBRef. But she still has a lot of developing to do as a positional, off-ball defender – as you'd expect for a 20-year-old – and did not make much of a positive contribution in possession last season.
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In several important on-ball metrics, King was one of the weakest full-backs in NWSL last season. She was in the eighth percentile for progressive carries, sixth percentile for successful take-ons, and 10th percentile for expected assists. Her 49th percentile progressive passes mark is a bit more promising, though still not great.
Angel City probably wouldn't have paid $300,000 for King if they didn't evaluate her as being talented enough on the ball that she can improve significantly in those areas. But there's no question that she's a project player who is not currently NWSL starter level in possession. She's moved to a team who have an interim head coach and have not yet named a future permanent head coach, which doesn't sound like the best situation for a raw young talent in need of significant development.
It is way, way too early to think of King as a bust. I wouldn't be willing to make that declaration yet even if she had a poor 2025. But she's someone who was recently seen as a future USWNT left-back, is not currently on that path, and does not appear to be in the right situation to get back there.
Gotham FC to Houston Dash
While Shaw and King's situations shared major similarities, Yazmeen Ryan's transfer to the Houston Dash couldn't be any more different. Ryan has spent her career as a utility player, filling in where needed for championship-winning clubs. She heads to a Houston team that does not appear to be anywhere close to that standard, but where she's expected to be the star and centerpiece of the team's attack.
Ryan has played just about everywhere in the attacking half of the pitch. She's been a box-to-box midfielder, a shuttler in a diamond formation, a cut-inside left-winger, and a more traditional up-and-down right-winger who's expected to deliver crosses. That last role is the one she played in her USWNT start during SheBelieves Cup, and in a recent preseason match for Houston.
Given the Dash's current tactics and personnel, that runs the risk of leaving Ryan rather isolated. In their matches that were open to the public, Houston have been playing the hybrid back 4-to-3 system that's been en vogue in NWSL in recent seasons, in which one full-back charges forward to join the attack, and the other tucks in close to the center-backs. In their case, the more defensive of the full-backs has been the right-back, and as a result, Houston had an easier time progressing the ball up the left side.
Because of her use as a utility player on good teams, Ryan doesn't have a lot of standout stats, either positive or negative. She has been very good at moving the ball from the middle to the final third for Gotham, ranking in the 80th percentile for progressive passes and in the 73rd percentile for progressive carries, according to FBRef.
Ryan was in the 28th percentile for xG and in the 55th percentile for xA last year, and those numbers going up significantly is a precondition for Houston moving up the table and challenging for a playoff spot.
The center-forwards that Ryan will be playing with – Diana Ordoñez and Messiah Bright – are both excellent back-to-goal hold-up players, but neither are particularly great at running in behind center-backs. Houston will be extremely dependent on finding the feet of those players on the edge of the 18-yard area for effective one-two combinations that end with Ryan carrying the ball into the box. She'll probably want to do a bit more crossing than the average winger as well, with Ordoñez and Bright both being excellent headers of the ball.
Houston are also not exactly loaded with mobile attacking midfield or left-wing talent. That combined with the strikers being more target forwards than players who can create their own shot means that the entire attack basically depends on Ryan being an all-around threat, all the time. I hope she's up for a challenge.