Leading the notable transfers announced during the last full week of 2024 is the trade of newly minted United States Women’s National team player Yazmeen Ryan from NJ/NY Gotham FC to the Houston Dash for a record amount of allocation money, plus other consideration.
Meanwhile, the Kansas City Current have secured the services of Brazilian goalkeeper Lorena via a transfer from Brazil’s Grêmio.
Also, Gotham has added 19-year-old midfielder Stella Nyamekeye via a transfer from Dreamz Ladies FC of her native Ghana.
For more end-of-year transactions, see NWSL News of Note, Signings Edition: Angel City inks Mississippi State’s Macey Hodge, Gotham signs Pitt’s Sarah Schupansky, Bella Bixby re-ups with Thorns, Hillary Beall extends with Wave.
Trade: Houston Dash acquire Yazmeen Ryan from Gotham FC
On Friday, Gotham and the Dash announced that recently capped USWNT forward Yazmeen Ryan had been traded to Houston. In exchange, the Dash sent to Gotham $80,000 in intra-league transfer funds, a “league record” $400,000 in allocation money, and a 2025 international roster spot.
Ryan’s first call-up to the USWNT was back in October. She has four caps, including two starts, in her nascent national team career. Ryan’s first senior international goal contribution was the assist on Lynn William’s game-winner against the Netherlands in December (US Soccer recap).
Ryan is a four-year veteran of the NWSL. Before Gotham, Ryan played two seasons with the Portland Thorns, helping the team to win an NWSL Championship in 2022. Then, in her first year with Gotham, in 2023, Ryan won a consecutive NWSL Championship. Her most recent contract runs through the 2025 NWSL season with an unspecified option for an additional year (February 2023 press release).
Ryan hails from Oklahoma and played NCAA soccer for Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. While at TCU (player profile), she scored 23 goals and had 23 assists in 75 matches across four seasons.
Described as a “midfielder” in the Gotham press release and a “forward” in the Dash press release, Ryan was an attacking midfielder during her collegiate career, but has also been utilized as an outside forward during her pro career (gothamfc.com interview). With the USWNT, she has only been deployed as a wide forward so far.
Kansas City Current: Brazilian goalkeeper Lorena signed via transfer from Grêmio
On December 23rd (press release), the Current announced the signing of 27-year-old goalkeeper Lorena da Silva Leite via a transfer from Brazilian club Grêmio. Lorena’s contract runs through the 2027 NWSL season and includes an unspecified option for the 2028 season.
Lorena’s listed height is 6’0″ (Brazil’s official roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics).
The signing of Lorena likely bumps recent signee Laurel Ivory to a back-up role.
Lorena has about 30 senior international caps for Brazil, including all five matches at the 2024 summer Olympics (stats report) where Brazil won silver behind the USWNT.
The Current will be Lorena’s first professional club outside of Brazil. Her pro debut came in 2017 for Sport Club do Recife where she played for two seasons. Lorena then joined Grêmio in 2019, initially as a back-up goalkeeper.
Lorena suffered an ACL injury in 2023 and was thus unavailable for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. She was out 11 months, until February 2024 (news article in Portuguese).
Lorena was a member of Brazil’s squad at the 2016 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, but was not the first-choice goalkeeper at that time and did not feature in any matches (Google’s match list for the 2016 U-20 WWC).
Gotham FC: 19-year-old Ghanian midfielder Stella Nyamekeye signed
Also on December 23rd (press release), Gotham announced the acquisition of Ghanaian midfielder Stella Nyamekye (pronunciation given as “nyah-meh-che”) via a transfer from her team in the Ghana Women’s Premier League, Dreamz Ladies FC.
Nyamekye’s contract runs through the 2027 NWSL season and includes a mutual option for the 2028 season.
Nyamekye, who will turn 20 next September, has already been capped by the senior Ghana women’s national team and captained the Ghana squad at the recent FIFA U-20 WWC in Colombia. At that tournament, she scored a goal against Austria and a penalty kick against Japan (FIFA.com).
In her native Ghana, Nyamekye earned a License D coaching certificate at the age of 16 (GhanaFA.org).
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