The big news of the weekend was the official introduction of Naomi Girma in Chelsea Blue on Sunday, after a trade from the San Diego Wave, which reportedly involves the largest transfer fee in women’s soccer history.
Girma may not be the only United States Women’s National Team player heading to England, as it appears that Jenna Nighswonger will be traded from Gotham to Arsenal.
In other player news, forward Messiah Bright will be playing for her third team in three years after being traded from Angel City to the Houston Dash.
Trade: Naomi Girma moves across the pond to Chelsea
On Sunday, Chelsea officially revealed their signing of United States Women’s National Team defender Naomi Girma after she was traded from the San Diego Wave for a record transfer fee that has been reported to be around $1.1 million (USD).
The 24-year-old Girma is now under contract with Chelsea for four-and-a-half-years (Chelsea press release), which would make her a free agent after the 2028-2029 WSL season. Prior to the trade, Girma still had two years on her NWSL contract with the Wave (2023 press release).
The approximately $1.1 million transfer fee will apparently be spread out over three years, according to Jeff Kassouf of The Equalizer. This should help the San Diego Wave avoid a net transfer fee charge of 25% on amounts over $500,000 (2024 threshold, so may be higher for 2025), which would be applied against the team’s salary cap (NWSL press release). (Pedantic: Depending on the actual amounts of the installment payments and inflation, the present value of Girma’s transfer fee might not actual exceed the million dollar threshold.)
According to a thorough ESPN article, Girma wanted to be traded from the Wave back in January 2024, which was before the hiring of Camille Ashton as general manager, the sudden firing of head coach Casey Stoney, and the Wave organization was sued by several former employees.
According to that ESPN article, both Arsenal and Michele Kang’s Olympique Lyonnais were serious suitors for Girma, with Lyon apparently matching Chelsea’s transfer fee offer. However, Arsenal was not willing to pay as much as the others, and more significantly, Girma had a preference for Chelsea.
Chelsea was in the market for a starting center-back due to losing 29-year-old Canadian Kadeisha Buchanan to an ACL injury in November 2024 (Chelsea news item). Chelsea’s other starting center-back, is 31-year-old English international Millie Bright. The Blues also have Netherlands international Aniek Nouwen, who turns 26 in March, plus two teen center-backs, who are both on loan.
Girma played three seasons in the NWSL, all as a starter for the Wave, who drafted her #1 overall in 2022. With the Wave, Girma was named the NWSL Rookie of the Year in the 2022 and won the NWSL Shield in 2023. (The Wave’s press release on the transfer also has additional stats and notables.)
With the USWNT, Girma won an Olympic Gold medal in 2024. She played every minute for the USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Girma also started all four of the USA’s matches at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. So far, Girma has 44 caps and 2 goals for the USWNT. Both of Girma’s goals were scored against Argentina in October 2024.
Girma was a regular call-up to United States youth camps since the U-14 level in 2014 and played in the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. In total, Girma attended about 30 youth camps from the U-14 to U-23 level.
In the United States, Girma’s record-breaking signing was national news and was even featured in a segment on Monday’s NBC Nightly News broadcast.
Chelsea’s roster also includes two other players with USWNT caps: Cat Macario, who played with Girma at Stanford, and Mia Fishel, who is still recovering from an ACL injury.
The news of Girma’s impending trade to Chelsea was first reported by Meg Linehan of The Athletic on Tuesday, January 21st (Yahoo! version of article).
Chelsea will play their next match, against Aston Villa, on Sunday, February 2nd, at 9:30 a.m. ET. In the States, the match will be streamed live by ESPN+ (direct link). However, there is no guarantee that Girma will make her debut in that match. Additionally, Girma was withdrawn from the USWNT’s January camp due to a minor calf injury, so she may not be cleared to play.
Trade: Angel City sends Messiah Bright to the Houston Dash
One (leap) year and a day after being trade from the Orlando Pride to Angel City, forward Messiah Bright has been traded again, this time to the Houston Dash. Angel City received $100,000 in guaranteed intra-league transfer funds and could receive up to $50,000 more via performance-based incentives. (Houston Dash press release)
If the perform-based incentives are met, the total transfer fee of $150,000 would be higher than the $130,000 fee paid by Angel City just one year earlier (26-Jan-2024 Angel City press release). That transaction also involved current Dash general manager Angela Hucles-Mangano who was then general manager for Angel City.
Bright’s original NWSL contract, signed in March 2023 (press release) after being drafted by the Orlando Pride was for three years and expires following the 2025 NWSL season.
Ostensibly, part of the reason for the trade to the Dash was so that Bright could be “closer to home” (Angel City press release). Bright was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, and played collegiate soccer at nearby Texas Christian University. Bright’s trade from the Pride to Angel City was “requested… for personal reasons (January 2024 Orlando Pride press release).
During the 2024 NWSL season, Bright had just seven starts in 21 regular season appearances. Her only league goal in 2024 was an equalizer in Angel City’s 1:2 home loss to the Washington Spirit. (NWSL stats)
In her rookie season, Bright scored six goals for Orlando over 22 matches, including two 1-nil game-winners and a brace against the Chicago Red Stars.
In 2024, with Angel City, Bright had less than half the regular season starts (7 versus 16) and minutes (679 versus 1379), compared to 2023, when she was with the Orlando Pride.
At TCU (player profile), Bright played five seasons, scoring 50 goals over 103 matches. In her fourth year, Bright tallied 17 goals and registered six assists.
Bright has attended at least four United States youth national team camps, including a pair of U-23 call-ups in 2022 and 2023, plus two U-18 call-ups in 2018.
Gotham FC: Jenna Nighswonger to be traded to Arsenal
On Monday, Meg Linehan of The Athletic (Yahoo! version of the article) reported that Arsenal is in the final stages of acquiring outside-back Jenna Nighswonger, with a reported transfer fee of $100,000 (USD).
In 2024, after starting 24 of the first 25 regular season matches for Gotham, Nighswonger only appeared as a substitute in the final regular season match and both of Gotham’s playoff matches (NWSL game log). In those last three matches, Jess Carter, who was acquired from Chelsea in July 2024 (press release) and Mandy Freeman were preferred as starting outside-backs.
In 2023, Nighswonger scored three goals and was named the NWSL Rookie of the Year. In 2024, Nighswonger tallied just one goal but had three assists.
With the addition of Carter and Freeman gaining starts (NWSL game log), Nighswonger is likely looking at a fight for playing time if she stays with Gotham.
Nighswonger was a member of the USA’s squad at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she appeared in every match except for the Gold Medal match. All of her appearances were as substitutes (USWNT line-ups).
At Florida State (player profile), Nighswonger registered 34 assists, second-most in program history, and scored 18 goals. With the Seminoles, she won an NCAA National Championship in 2021.
Nighswonger has attended over 25 United States youth national team camps and played in the 2020 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship. She likely would have been named to the USA’s roster for a FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup had that the 2020 edition not been canceled.
Nighswonger would join fell USWNT outside-back Emily Fox, who has been with Arsenal since January 2024, if the trade goes through.
Quick Notes
On Monday, five more clubs — Bay FC, the Chicago Stars, the Houston Dash, the North Carolina Courage, and the Portland Thorns — released their initial preseason rosters. Gotham FC is the only team that has yet to publish their preseason roster.
Racing Louisville added another recent collegiate player as a non-roster invitee to their preseason roster: Ginger Fontenot (press release), who played for Penn State (player profile) in 2024 after transferring from Penn (player profile), where she played three seasons.
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