NWSL free agency has been relatively quiet in the new year, with a couple of notable exceptions. Join host Kathleen Gier for a recap of the most notable signings and where to look next for major movement, as well as a recap of the training facility arms race that has been slowly building across the NWSL.
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Gier reflect on Denver’s recent signing of defender Ayo Oke, a Liga MX champion and transfer from CF Pachuca. Oke, originally from Lawrenceville, Ga., has a long history of playing with the U.S. women’s national team from the U-15 to U-23 levels and is widely considered an up-and-coming star in women’s soccer.
“It’ll be really interesting to see how she kind of transitions into this league, and whether she can kind of step into a leadership role here with that brand new team,” Gier said of Oke’s decision to join Colorado’s burgeoning expansion team. “I thought this statement was interesting from her. In a press release, she just said, ‘I’m excited to join Denver Summit FC and be a part of building something new. The club’s vision and ambition stood out to me, and I’m ready to compete, grow and help set the standard from day one.’ I think this is a sentiment we’re going to hear from a lot of people, not just for these two new expansion teams, but certainly … with this free agent structure and with kind of power dynamic … changing in international soccer.”
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“I think it’s going to be really interesting to see how a player like her, a top prospect, is making these decisions and what ends up factoring in for them,” Gier continued. “Obviously going to a brand new team, you’re hopefully going to have some say. You’re going to have, maybe some guaranteed playing time. Certainly, it seems like she would deserve it with her performance on the field. But also, what are they offering in terms of facilities? What are they offering in terms of longevity of contracts?”
Gier also discussed the rapidly changing market for training facilities, and gave an overview of the teams that are investing heavily in bringing modern, state-of-the-art spaces, equipment and amenities to their players. She also touched on the controversy surrounding the “marketability” metric the league is using to define a “High Impact Player“, and how it only worsens the NWSL’s ongoing problem with favoring European and U.S.-born players in the signing process.
“If we’re going to move forward with this system where we are putting players in tiers, that we are really considering this bigger kind of cultural influence. And also, it all seems to lead back to just [increasing] the salary cap, because that is a much, much easier thing to handle. And I understand Commissioner Berman’s concerns about keeping parity in the league and keeping it competitive. But it just seems like, at least to me, reading over those requirements another time, that I would much rather leave that up to the teams to deem who they think is most valuable. And I think that gets rid of a lot of our problems here.”
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