ahead Alyssa Thompson has made a significant – and considerably shocking – transfer, departing Angel Metropolis of the for English giants Chelsea.
reported Thursday that the golf equipment had agreed to a switch price of just below $1.5 million, with unspecified bonuses that would increase the deal’s worth to just about $2 million sooner or later.
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The $1.5 million determine is the world file for a switch price in ladies’s soccer, a mark that was set simply final month when the , a winger for the Mexican nationwide staff. That stated, it could have fallen late Thursday, with French outlet reporting that London Metropolis Lionesses had spent roughly $1.92 million to amass midfielder Grace Geyoro from Paris Saint-Germain.
Thompson, 20, needs to be eligible to play for Chelsea as soon as the related switch paperwork and work visas in the UK are accepted. The Girls’s Tremendous League season begins on Friday, with Chelsea internet hosting Manchester Metropolis in a conflict of title contenders. Chelsea is hoping to win a seventh consecutive title, six of which got here throughout present USWNT head coach’s Emma Hayes’ tenure.
Thompson, whose youthful sister Gisele stays an Angel Metropolis participant, has 22 USWNT caps, scoring three targets in these appearances. In 16 NWSL appearances for Angel Metropolis this season – the place she was broadly thought of the staff’s finest participant – the elder Thompson scored six targets and added two assists. She departs having posted 15 targets and 11 assists in 62 whole regular-season appearances for the L.A.-based membership.
Thompson’s departure from Angel Metropolis arrived moderately abruptly, with buzz round Chelsea’s curiosity solely coming to the floor in latest days. On Monday, the Los Angeles native was held out of Angel Metropolis’s 2-1 win over Bay FC, with the membership on the official NWSL availability report.
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Chelsea’s urgency to finish the transfer possible stemmed from the realities of soccer switch guidelines. English ladies’s groups had till 6 p.m. ET Thursday to finish transfers; in any other case, a participant wouldn’t be eligible to play in any aggressive sport till the secondary switch window opens on Jan. 1, 2026.
This is what to learn about USWNT attacker Alyssa Thompson becoming a member of Chelsea:
Angel Metropolis FC ahead Alyssa Thompson (21) dribbles the ball as Washington Spirit defender Rebeca Bernal (4) defends at Audi Area in NWSL play on Might 2, 2025.
Alyssa Thompson to Chelsea: USWNT ahead leaves Angel Metropolis
Alyssa Thompson’s transfer to Chelsea is main information on either side of the Atlantic, and will have enormous short- and long-term implications within the NWSL.
For Chelsea, the maths is pretty easy: Thompson is among the sport’s prime younger gamers, together with her potential to beat defenders off the dribble a prized high quality. Her velocity within the open area will make her one of many WSL’s quickest gamers, and her new head coach, Sonia Bompastor, will be capable of underline this switch as proof that the Blues aren’t resting on their laurels.
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From Thompson’s perspective, there are additionally main positives at play. Again in January, the ahead signed a contract extension working by means of 2028, however Chelsea, which – due to very completely different league guidelines, have fewer monetary restrictions to deal with than Angel Metropolis – is anticipated to have given her a big increase. With USWNT teammates Naomi Girma and Catarina Macario already enjoying for the Blues, Thompson may have pleasant faces to information her as she adjusts to a distinct atmosphere.
The events which may not be so proud of the state of affairs are Angel Metropolis and the NWSL as a complete. By way of her play, native roots, and a few harm bother for veteran stars, Thompson had develop into the face of ACFC. Her talent set and marketability (significantly in Los Angeles) will likely be immensely troublesome to switch long-term, and just about unimaginable in the course of the 2025 season.
Why so troublesome? The NWSL switch window closed final month, and whereas trades are nonetheless attainable till the roster freeze date on Oct. 9, the opposite 13 groups will know that Angel Metropolis has simply had a monetary windfall whereas additionally strolling right into a bind by way of their roster composition. After successful two straight, ACFC sits in ninth place on 23 factors, trailing NJ/NY Gotham FC for the eighth and last postseason berth by a single level with eight video games to play.
For the NWSL, the information could also be even worse. Whereas hypothesis that the league is doomed to lose all of its stars to free-spending European sides stays unfounded, there is not any pretending that shedding one of many league’s finest younger gamers mere months after she had signed a long-term contract is not a blow.
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The issue stems much less from Thompson’s departure and extra from the character of her transfer. It is no disrespect to Ovalle to say that – with a long-term contract in place, Thompson’s age, and her potential to develop into one of many highest attacking gamers on the earth – Chelsea ought to have been anticipated to pay a considerably larger price to get Angel Metropolis to have interaction in talks.
As an alternative, Thompson is off to London with out breaking the worldwide switch file, which looks as if a severe undervaluation. Chelsea entered the talks with all of the stress of finishing a switch in opposition to an impending deadline, but regarded for all of the world like a staff that landed a participant whose worth will skyrocket within the very close to future.
For the NWSL, that is the issue. It is one factor for Chelsea, Arsenal, and French big OL Lyonnes (whose proprietor, Michelle Kang, additionally owns the Washington Spirit) to have curiosity within the league’s superstars. That is going to occur, as a result of the NWSL has such a protracted checklist of excellent gamers. It is one other factor totally to see a participant in that class depart with no near-term technique of changing them, and at a worth that does make sense stacked up in opposition to the opposite main transfers over the past 12 months.
Whether or not it is by elevating the wage cap, calendar modifications to align with European switch home windows, or creating new guidelines that permit groups extra leeway to retain their most in-demand gamers, the NWSL must critically contemplate main modifications in response to what looks as if a transparent vulnerability.