On Monday, the Utah Royals announced the signing of two players, free agent Tatumn Milazzo, most recently of the Chicago Red Stars, and, via a transfer, Club Tijuana forward Aisha Solórzano, who is a Guatemalan international with five years of NAIA soccer experience.
Also on Monday, the club announced the departures of veteran forward Michelle Vasconcelos and Swedish midfielder Agnes Nyberg.
Last Friday, the Royals revealed the signing of 19-year-old Colombian international outside-back Ana María Guzmán on a one season loan from Bayern Munich.
Former Chicago Red Stars defender Tatumn Milazzo signed via two-year contract
On Monday, January 13th (press release), the Royals announced the free agency signing of defender Tatumn Milazzo via a two-year contract through the 2026 NWSL season.
Milazzo recently concluded her fourth season in the NWSL, all with the Chicago Red Stars. The Chicagoland native featured in 17 matches during the 2024 regular season, with 13 starts, but only one of those starts was after September 1st.
The 26-year-old Milazzo played four seasons of NCAA soccer for South Carolina from 2016 to 2019. For the Gamecocks (player profile), Milazzo appeared in 80 matches and started every match she appeared in after her freshman year.
Milazzo suffered an ACL tear in 2019, which prematurely ended her senior season and delayed her professional career until 2021.
Milazzo attended at least five United States youth camps from the U-14 to U-18 levels.
Guatemalan forward Aisha Solórzano acquired via transfer from Club Tijuana
Also on Monday, January 13th (press release), the club announced the signing of Guatemalan international Aisha Solórzano via a transfer from Club Tijuana of the Liga MX Feminil. Solórzano is under contract through the 2027 NWSL season.
The 26-year-old Solórzano joins the Royals after scoring 16 goals in 16 matches during Liga MX Feminil’s 2024 Apertura, in which Tijuana finished ninth and just outside the playoffs.
In the 2024 Summer Cup, Solórzano bagged a hat-trick in Tijuana’s 3:2 victory over the Seattle Reign (YouTube highlights).
Solórzano first debuted for the senior Guatemala Women’s National Team as a teenager in 2014 (Concacaf.com news item), if not earlier. She started the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup play-in match against El Salvador, which Guatemala lost by a score of 1:3 (Concacaf.com match page). (Note: Guatemala’s soccer federation does not have a function website, so finding useful information is a challenge.) According to Utah’s press release (which is incorrect regarding her debut), Solórzano has 21 caps and 3 goals for Guatemala.
Before turning pro, Solórzano played five years of NAIA soccer for Southeastern University in Florida. Over 97 matches, she scored 52 goals and registered 51 assists (player profile).
Colombian international defender Ana María Guzmán loaned from Bayern Munich for 2025 NWSL season
On Friday, January 10th (press release), the Royals announced that Colombian outside-back Ana María Guzmán will join the club on loan from Bayern Munich of the Frauen-Bundesliga. Guzmán’s loan term is for the entire 2025 NWSL season. She is currently in the middle of a four-year contract with Bayern.
Guzmán, who will turn 20 in June, was a member of Colombia’s squad for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, but missed the 2024 Summer Olympics due to a knee injury suffered in November 2023 (Bayern press release).
The 5’4″ Guzmán has two league appearances for Bayern’s first team, along with six appearances and three goals, including a brace in her August 2024 return from injury, for Bayern’s reserve team (DFB Datencenter profile).
Theo Lloyd-Hughes profiled Guzmán in September 2023 on his Substack, Squad Depth.
Michele Vasconcelos and Agnes Nyberg depart after contracts “bought out”
On Monday, the Royals confirmed the departures of forward Michele Vasconcelos and Swedish midfielder Agnes Nyberg through mutual contract terminations, which was described in the press release as “the club [buying] out the remainder of Nyberg and Vasconcelos’ contracts”.
Both Vasconcelos, who is a native of the Salt Lake City area and a former BYU player, and Nyberg joined the Royals ahead of the 2024 season as free agents and signed two-year contracts.
Last Thursday, Vasconselos posted a message on Instagram announcing her departure, which she described as “a mutual termination of [her] contract so [she] could become a free agent”.
Michele Vasconcelos
In 2024, Vanconcelos appeared in 15 regular season matches for the Royals, starting twice, and registering only 254 minutes. In the Summer Cup, she scored a goal against her former club, the Portland Thorns. (NWSL stats profile)
Vasconcelos, who will turn 31 next May, has played eight seasons in the NWSL. She was originally drafted by the Chicago Red Stars in 2017, but an “unexpected” pregnancy (2017 news article) delayed her pro debut until 2018.
Vasconcelos played three years with Chicago and was traded to the original Utah Royals in September 2020 a few months before that team folded and its players were transferred to the new Kansas City franchise. She then played a partial season in Kansas City before being loaned to Sevilla in Spain for one season. At the end of the loan, Vasconcelos was waived and signed with the Portland Thorns, where she played for two seasons.
Before becoming a pro, Vasconcelos played five seasons for the BYU Cougars (player profile), including a medical redshirt year where she only played two matches. Utilized as an attacking midfielder and a forward, she scored 33 goals and tallied 30 assists (2024 BYU media guide, page 106). In her senior season, Vasconcelos was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year.
Vasconcelos was called up to one Under-23 USWYNT camp in 2017.
Vasconcelos has one child, a daughter, who was born in 2017.
Agnes Nyberg
During the 2024 NWSL season, the 24-year-old Nyberg featured in 11 regular season matches (NWSL game log). Four of her seven starts came at the very beginning of the season. After the Olympic break, Nyberg was named to all 10 regular season gameday rosters for Utah, but just had one official minute of playing time.
Nyberg joined the Royals in January 2024 (press release) via a free transfer after her previous team, IK Uppsala, was relegated following the 2023 Damallsvenskan season. Nyberg made her pro debut at age 15 and played eight seasons in Sweden (five in the second division, Elitettan, and three in the Damallsvenskan), playing in at least 20 league matches each year (SvFF profile).
Nyberg was a youth international for Sweden from the U-15 level in 2015 to the U-23 level in 2023. She has yet to be called up to Sweden’s senior women’s national team.
Quick Note
In the same press release announcing the departures of Vasconcelos and Nyberg, it was mentioned that forward “Hannah Betfort has not re-signed with the club and will also pursue free agency”. She is expected to sign with the North Carolina Courage, according to The Equalizer.
Betfort had an option for the 2025 season in her most recent contract (2023 Thorns press release), which, per The Equalizer, was “a mutual option”.
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