Coming to America! Why so many of England’s Lionesses have turned their back on the WSL and headed Stateside in NWSL transfers

Over the years, it has not been very common for Lionesses to play in the NWSL, the top league in the United States. Prior to this year, only nine had done so, and four of them made the move after their final England call-ups had already come. So when a trio of Lionesses left the Women’s Super League this summer for clubs across the pond, it felt quite significant.

That’s particularly the case because, over the last few years, the WSL has become one of the very best leagues in the world, if not the best. It’s a league attractive to the most talented players in the game, one that either draws those stars to England or makes admirers out of the ones playing elsewhere. Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati only recently described the women’s domestic game in England as “an example for everything”.

For most Lionesses, the WSL remains the place to be. That’s certainly reflected in Sarina Wiegman’s latest squad for October’s friendlies with Germany and South Africa, with 20 of the 26 names called up playing their football at home. But while the likes of Mary Earps, Keira Walsh and Georgia Stanway have chosen to move abroad to represent European powerhouses like Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, respectively, the U.S. as a whole is evidently growing into a more popular landing spot than ever before for Lionesses. But why?

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  Changing perceptions

  Despite the remarkable success of the U.S. women’s national team, there has long been a stereotype held by some in England about the style of play in the NWSL. In the words of Esme Morgan, who spoke to The Athletic after joining the Washington Spirit, it has often been viewed as a “kick-and-run” league.

  But the growing appeal of the competition was evident this summer as players from all over Europe, not just England, were lured across the pond. France forward Delphine Cascarino, three-time Champions League winner Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic and Claudia Zornoza, a World Cup champion last year with Spain, were among those who joined NWSL clubs, continuing an influx of different styles that is having a positive impact.

  This has not been limited to players, either. Former Tottenham boss Juan Carlos Amoros, ex-England defender Casey Stoney and Jonatan Giraldez, who led Barcelona to a first-ever quadruple on the women’s side in 2023-24, are some of the coaches to have moved Stateside recently.

  When Arsenal went to the U.S. this summer to face Giraldez’s Washington Spirit in pre-season, then-head coach Jonas Eidevall was keen to debunk the myths around the style of play in the NWSL, saying there was “not that much different” between European and American sides today.

  “You see a coach like Jonatan coming here and what he’s trying to do from a game model and tactical foundation, it is very similar to what the top teams in Europe do as well,” he said. “When you watch the NWSL as a league growing, that influence of both getting some really good foreign players in but also getting some really good foreign coaches in makes for a league that I think sometimes people speak about a little bit lazy in a way, saying, ‘Oh, every team is playing the same style’. It’s not true. The variety, I think, is really nice to see in the NWSL.”

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    Learning from the best

    Giraldez is one of the best coaches in the world and to work under him, a player now has to head to the States. That’s something which certainly appealed to one Lioness this summer, Morgan.

    The 24-year-old is a childhood Manchester City fan and had spent the past six seasons playing in the first team for the club of her heart. However, minutes dried up last term, forcing her to reassess her future – not least for the sake of her international career. That’s when the chance to go to Washington came up.

    “Sarina really liked this as an opportunity for me to learn from one of the best coaches in the game and hopefully she’ll be a beneficiary of that too,” Morgan told The Athletic. She also noted the improvements Walsh, her England team-mate, made under Giraldez in Catalunya. “She had a lot less room for improvement than I do, so if he managed to find some extra percent out of her, then I’m really optimistic he’ll help me develop.”

    For her, it’s clear the move was not specifically about the U.S., but about the best opportunity on the table. Yet, amid other offers in England and Europe, that she chose the NWSL says a lot about where the league sits.

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    Adding another dimension

    Another England defender who boarded a flight over the Atlantic this summer was Jess Carter, who decided to swap one domestic champion for another when she joined Gotham FC from Chelsea. Her situation was different as she was playing plenty for the Blues, and she had a more personal reason to move since her fiancée – goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger – joined the same club in April. Yet, it was immediately clear that Carter had done her homework on the NWSL and knew that, after 10 years in England’s top-flight, playing in the U.S. could make her a better player and add another dimension to her game.

    “In England, and when I was a little bit younger, I managed to get away with things because of my athleticism, whereas here, everyone is athletic,” Carter told The Equalizer. “I’m going to have to get even better because just being physical isn’t going to be enough. Having to adapt my technical ability and get better at defending rather than relying on pace and strength are areas I’m going to have to improve.

    “The league has always been physical and very athletic, but the technical side of it is really coming into play,” she added. “More coaches have tried to develop their team so that they build up more from the back and play less direct.”

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    Extremely competitive league

    That was a sentiment echoed by Katie Zelem, who became the third Lioness to move to the U.S. this summer when she joined Angel City. “There are certain aspects here, like the physicality and the transitions, that you probably wouldn’t experience as much in England,” she said. “I think it’s an amazing step and an amazing place to improve my all-round game.”

    Signing for a club based in Los Angeles, her switch has required the most dramatic adjustment, with the Manchester-born midfielder certainly not used to temperatures that soar above 40 degrees Celsius and are measured in Fahrenheit.

    “When I did the flight over here, I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve had a nap. I’ve watched two films. There can’t be that long left’. I clicked on the screen and there was five hours to go! Reality really hit of how just how far away it is,” she said with a laugh. “The time difference to my family is eight hours, so when I get up in the morning I try to contact them and then after training, before they go to sleep. I think it’s in those moments when you realise you are so far away.”

    That’s all part of the “new challenge” that Zelem has signed up for, though. Upon leaving United, she had offers in England and Europe. But as she bids to get back into the Lionesses’ picture, having found herself on the outside looking in since December, she’s chosen a league that has something few across the pond do.

    “The competitiveness of the NWSL is something that appealed to me about coming here,” she explained. “In the last four years, a different team has won the league every single year. I think that’s certainly something different.”

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    New players and new teams

    Of the three Lionesses who landed in the U.S. this summer, only Zelem has experience playing abroad, having spent the 2017-18 season at Juventus. When she moved to Italy, she was a rare case of a top-level English player overseas. In the time since, that’s changed quite drastically. As well as the six players in the current England squad who do not play their football at home, the likes of Lucy Bronze and Alex Greenwood have also spent time away from the WSL and become better for it.

    “For me, it was going into the unknown,” Gemma Bonner, the 12-time England international who spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons with Racing Louisville, told GOAL earlier this year. “When you get used to playing in this league [WSL], you play against the same teams, the same players, for a long period of time, and you almost expect what you get in the games. I think there’s kind of an element of uncertainty in the NWSL. It’s a new challenge playing against new players.” That’s something Zelem also touched upon when explaining her reasons for going Stateside.

    “The nature of the league, how the trades happen and stuff like that, every team is competitive and every single game is competitive. I think that’s something that I loved,” Bonner added. “I challenged myself. It put me out of my comfort zone, but I’ll never regret going because I definitely feel like it helped me improve and grow as a player and a person, moving abroad. I guess when you’re used to something, a new challenge is exciting and I think players can only benefit from playing in both leagues.”

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    One of the places to be

    It’s become clear in recent years that moving abroad is something more England players are willing to do – and that is now extending to the NWSL. As with any overseas transfer, it brings challenges in the difficulties of being away from home and finding your feet in a new place. In the U.S. in particular, there is a lot of travelling to get used to, both in playing domestic games and flying back to England for international duty, and there is the fact that the NWSL is out of sync with the European season, with its calendar running from March through to November each year.

    But there are also so many benefits. There are all the off-pitch factors which impact the person, and then the differences on the pitch which help the player progress.

    As the NWSL’s reputation continues to grow, these positives don’t just have to impact established England stars, either. In July, Wiegman called up Anna Moorhouse, the Orlando Pride goalkeeper, for the first time. “She brings everything you would want in a goalkeeper,” Seb Hines, her club coach, said at the time. “It’s nice to see the England national team are showing interest in her and the NWSL as well, which hasn’t always been a thing in the past.”

    For years, the top-flight in the U.S. has felt so much more separate to leagues in Europe, despite its obvious qualities. However, as more and more top stars flock to the division, and amid rumours of it looking to align its calendar with the European season, that’s really starting to change. The NWSL is one of the top leagues in the world and the recent influx of Lionesses is only further evidence that its global standing is growing massively.