The National Womens Soccer League secondary transfer window has been white-hot this year. High-profile players have made stunning moves to big teams, leaving record-breaking transfer fees in their wake. The current title holders in that regard are Mexican international Lizbeth Ovalle and the Orlando Pride, who paid $1.5 million for the superlative winger in a deal with Tigres of Liga MX Femenil in August.
The next record might not be far away, either, with Angel City striker Alyssa Thompson being linked to a move to Chelsea before the Womens Super League window in England closes Thursday.
But between the louder headlines, a quieter narrative emerged: young European talent heading to the U.S.
Two examples came toward the end of the NWSL window. Gotham FC announced Monday a deal with West Ham to sign 19-year-old Princess Ademiluyi, and the Portland Thorns struck a deal with Arsenal to bring 18-year-old midfielder Laila Harbert to Oregon on loan for the remainder of the 2025 season.
Both players are England youth internationals. Ademiluyi who is eligible to play for Gotham this season but is likely to go on loan, per a Gotham spokesperson most recently represented England at the under-19 level at the UEFA championship for that age group, and Harbert captained Englands under-17 squad at their European championship and under-17 World Cup in 2024.
These moves are yet another indicator of the shifts within womens professional soccer as the NWSL skews younger while continuing to expand and enter new recruitment territory that no longer relies on a collegiate draft. In 2024, the NWSL did away with its college draft, allowing instead for all rookies to be free agents.
In the NWSL, players such as Ademiluyi and Harbert seek consistent minutes in tightly contested matches week after week, allowing them to build cases for themselves as they keep an eye turned to their home clubs and national team ambitions. In turn, clubs such as the Thorns, whose current roster makes them the youngest team in the league, receive players whove had a head start maturing into the lifestyle of a professional athlete and are hungry to learn and continue developing.
Thorns president of soccer operations and general manager Jeff Agoos explained how the clubs forward-thinking approach to recruitment facilitated Harberts loan.
To have the opportunity to bring Laila in and then not only develop her to make her one of the best players on our team and in this league in her position, but to make her a full international for the England national team is really our goal, Agoos told The Athletic. So we had alignment with Arsenal and we knew that what we can bring to the table in terms of development, support the progress and arc of Lailas pathway. There is a coalescence of what were trying to do, what the player is trying to do, and what the club is trying to do.
It also doesnt hurt to be able to point to a homegrown product and a Thorns veteran just one year Harberts senior, who not only embodies those ideals, but also has executed them. Olivia Moultrie began her career at 15 years old, then the youngest in NWSL history, after filing an antitrust lawsuit and then reaching a settlement with the league over her ability to play professionally before she turned 18.
Shes still one of our youngest players, Agoos said of Moultrie, but in terms of experience, one of the most experienced players we have on our team. And so that dichotomy is really important to us and (was) really important to developing Liv into a full international.
The Thorns aims are the same as what every other serious club would say if asked: to be the best womens team in the world and build a championship-caliber roster that blends youth and experience. On that latter end, Agoos said, the Thorns have a group of young players either knocking on the door of their senior national teams or desperate to tighten their grip on their standings within them.
You can see how important development has been not only to the players that are full internationals and continuing to be full internationals, but to the players that were trying to grow into youth internationals and through the chain to full internationals, said Agoos, who joined the Thorns in January from a senior vice president role in Major League Soccers front office.
He is referencing players such as defenders Reyna Reyes, Isabella Obaze and Marie Müller, who represent Mexico, Norway and Germany at the international level, as well as French international and forward Julie Dufour, who was traded to the Thorns through a deal with Angel City FC less than two weeks ago.
Among the precedent set by Moultries lawsuit, the elimination of a collegiate draft and the ever-growing investments in womens sports worldwide, players can begin their professional careers and retire, should they so choose earlier than before. Slowly, this is resulting in a younger league.
When Moultrie went pro with the Thorns in 2019, back when the NWSL had just nine teams, only one teams roster averaged 25 years old: the Washington Spirit. Four other teams were 27 years old on average; three, 28 years old; and one, 29. This season, the Thorns and four other teams (Angel City, North Carolina, Racing Louisville and San Diego) have averages of 26; seven others at 27; and two at 28. In each set of years, the average age of an NWSL player was about 27 the tilt is subtle, but its there. More younger players are filling up the NWSL, and as two expansion sides kick off next year in Boston where six of its seven signed players are in their early 20s and Denver, its reasonable to expect that trend to continue.
Other NWSL teams have already been pursuing similar paths as they ready for their final pushes to the postseason. During the summer transfer window, the San Diego Wave signed 20-year-old Brazilian forward Dudinha and 21-year-old French midfielder Laurina Fazer, both through 2027. The new arrivals had already become fixtures on their former clubs rosters Dudinha with São Paulo FC, Fazer with Paris Saint-Germain and had substantial senior national team experience for their ages before joining the Wave.
The qualifiers for the 2027 World Cup are fast approaching, and young players will vie for one of those 23 roster spots, migrating to where they can force their managers to make difficult decisions. Increasingly, for many international players, that destination is the NWSL.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
NWSL, Women’s Soccer
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