Summer Report Card Series: Summer Transfer Window Report Card
This summer's hottest trend: NWSL teams continue to add premiere new talent from around the world
Thorn Town’s Summer Report Card series continues with a look at a very busy series of league-wide transactions.
So what is a “transfer window”?
Unlike most American sports, in global soccer, inter-team transactions can only occur during certain universal “windows” in the calendar, including August 1st to the 31st. Taylor Vincent of Spotrac did a great job explaining the complicated process in this article — but here’s hoping the league and its broadcast partners get more proactive about making this process clear for the fanbase. So, after the end of this month, NWSL rosters will be locked in for the run to the championship.
The Thorns have only gotten busier as the month has gone on, including news of a major trade breaking earlier today. With ten days left in the transfer window after today, we’ll have to see if the Thorns have wrapped up all their business, or if the team is still going to remake the roster on the fly.
Bring the Payne
This is catching up on a transaction that the Thorns made a few weeks ago now. I had forgotten, but, up to this point, Nicole Payne was actually in Portland on a year-long loan from Paris Saint-Germain in France. However, all sides agreed to a new deal, where Payne will permanently join the Thorns, and gets a guaranteed year for 2025 added to her contract. After a very difficult debut against Kansas City, Payne has become a more and more stable member of the defensive rotation.
Nally, Alvarado depart
Both defender Meaghan Nally and goalkeeper Emily Alvarado mutually agreed with the Thorns to terminate their contracts, and become free agents.
Why would the players agree to have their contracts torn up, when they have a guaranteed contract through the end of this season? Both players have their path to playing time blocked on the Thorns thanks to a ton of depth. It’s a lot more likely that they will get regular playing time either in a European league, or in America’s brand-new second women’s league, the USL Super League. All those other leagues are starting their seasons right about now, so it’s more advantageous for Nally and Alvarado to make themselves available.
Alvarado has only been in Portland for a few months, since being acquired in a trade from Houston this April. Her only appearance in a game came in the Summer Cup against Tijuana — where she did pitch a shutout, albeit with some shaky moments along the way. If she signs with a new team, that will be the third city she lives in during 2024 alone and, man, being a pro athlete has to be a wild journey.
Nally, on the other hand, has been with the Thorns back since 2020, in the same draft class as Sophia Smith and Morgan Weaver. As a third-round draft pick, it’s very hard to simply make an NWSL roster, and Nally always did a phenomenal job developing and staying ready in the Thorns’ system. All told, Nally appeared in 25 regular season games for the Thorns, with the team having a strong +11 goal differential during her minutes. Nally has already signed with a team in Denmark, and even scored a goal in her first appearance.
Spaanstra in
This week, the Thorns made a trade with Kansas City Current, bringing in young forward Alexa Spaanstra in exchange for cash. It’s a very intriguing buy-low move by the Thorns: Spaanstra had gotten buried in the Current’s depth chart in 2024, thanks to the all-world acquisitions of Temwa Chawinga and Bia Zaneratto. Kansas City took Spaanstra in the first round of the 2023 draft only about 18 months ago. This type of move can be called a “second draft” — basically, seeing if a prospect really just needed a change of scenery in order to make everything click. So far, Spaanstra has three goals in 26 games (13 starts) in the NWSL. Her place in the depth chart on the Thorns is an unknown right now, because the team also…
Beckie trade
…traded away Janine Beckie to Racing Louisville, receiving rookie forward Reilyn Turner in exchange. Since Beckie was such a huge positive in terms of being on off-field presence and personality, the Thorns would clearly have to have a golden opportunity in order to look to trade her. And for me this is exactly that move, with the Thorns getting younger while staying dangerous offensively.
Basically: in only 733 NWSL minutes so far, Turner has contributed to six goals (four goals, two assists). In Beckie’s whole tenure with the Thorns, she played 1,778 minutes, and contributed to seven goals (three goals, four assists). Turner is sixth in the league in shots on target per minute. Beckie was seventh overall on the Thorns roster.
I suspect that Louisville, and their years-long struggle to hold onto wins, was looking for a more steady, veteran presence on their team. Beckie and Louisville have already agreed to a contract extension through 2026 as part of this deal. But, going back to last offseason, GM Karina LeBlanc has simultaneously made the Thorns younger while still keeping the team in the thick of the playoff picture, and this may be her best move on that theme yet. Although Sophia Smith has committed to the Thorns for the 2025 season, LeBlanc is making moves that keep the Thorns staying both flexible and in contention, whether Smith stays or goes. Wow.