This weekend, a busy NWSL offseason took a major turn. Chelsea officially announced it had acquired defender Naomi Girma, reportedly paying the San Diego Wave a record $1.1 million transfer fee.

Beyond making Girma — the key to the USWNT back line and one of the best center backs in the world — the most expensive women’s soccer player to date, the move signals a major shift in the NWSL this offseason. In short, the Americans are heading overseas.

This NWSL offseason has already been a chaotic one: There have been a number of major intra-league trades in a short span, such as Lynn Biyendolo (née Williams) heading to the Seattle Reign and Jaedyn Shaw going to the North Carolina Courage.

But players in the NWSL heading to Europe is something of a shift. It’s not uncommon for big American players to end up in Europe, although most of those players went straight out of college. To transfer from the NWSL to one of the top European leagues is rarer — but it's becoming more common.

Girma is the biggest name so far to transfer this offseason, but she is not the only one to make the jump. Jenna Nighswonger, an NWSL champion with NJ/NY Gotham FC and Olympic gold medalist with the USWNT, is reportedly transferring to Arsenal. While not American, the departure of Brazilian forward and 2023 NWSL MVP Kerolin is also part of the trend; Kerolin, a free agent, signed with Manchester City after three seasons with the North Carolina Courage.

The NWSL has long prided itself on being a competitive league full of world-class players. But if some of the league’s best players are trying their hands across the pond, it raises the question: What does it mean for the NWSL’s future?

Americans have long played in the NWSL; is that changing?

For years, there was an unofficial delineation between the NWSL and the European leagues, like the English Women’s Super League (WSL) and France’s Première Ligue. American players, especially USWNT regulars, tended to stay in the States for their club teams.

Part of that is the NWSL’s original allocation structure, where U.S. Soccer paid USWNT players directly to play professionally in the league. At the time, the allocation system helped grow the league with the biggest names in American soccer. But the NWSL is now far more self-sustainable. U.S. Soccer stopped the allocation system in 2021, and teams are directly responsible for — and capable of — paying highly visible players.

However, there’s a major difference between the NWSL and the European leagues: parity. While a few major teams are able to dominate the WSL and Première League — think Chelsea, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Lyon — with expensive rosters, the NWSL is subject to salary caps and payment rules. Although there is no maximum annual salary under the new CBA, teams are still capped at $3.3 million, with that amount set to grow over time based on league revenue.

For the most part, NWSL teams like the equality that these rules create throughout the league. In an anonymous survey by ESPN this fall, 13 of 14 NWSL general managers cited “parity” as the thing that sets the NWSL apart from other leagues. But several also expressed concern about losing players to the European leagues with spending being so limited.

One of the first major players to make the jump across the Atlantic was USWNT captain Lindsey Horan, who plays for Olympique Lyonnais Féminin. Horan was loaned to Lyon in 2022, and transferred to the team permanently in June 2023. Another was defender Emily Fox, who joined Arsenal last January after a few seasons in the NWSL.

Four players on the USWNT’s Olympic roster this summer played for non-NWSL teams; in the past week, that number has jumped to six. Another domino might fall, too: Per the BBC, Chelsea has reportedly shown interest in Portland Thorns midfielder Sam Coffey, another part of the USWNT core.

How is the NWSL responding?

With big names leaving the NWSL, teams are responding by bringing big players in. Two kinds of signings have dominated the offseason so far: college signings and international transfers. The new NWSL CBA got rid of the college draft, so college players now sign directly with teams.

The two teams that have lost the most players are Gotham and the Wave. Gotham in particular has had significant roster turnover this offseason — along with Nighswonger, Gotham has also parted ways with once-consistent starters like Yazmeen Ryan, Delanie Sheehan, Abby Smith and, perhaps most surprisingly, Crystal Dunn, who is leaving the team after just one season to pursue new opportunities.

As a result, these two teams have brought in the most players. In the past few weeks, the Wave signed French midfielder Kenza Dali from Aston Villa and Nigerian striker Chiamaka Okwuchukwu. They also signed 17-year-old defender Trinity Armstrong from UNC, perhaps in anticipation of Girma’s departure. In the past month, Gotham signed Brazilian forward Gabi Portilho from Corinthians and Ghanaian midfielder Stella Nyamekye, plus multiple college players.

What does this mean about the league long term?

Americans and top NWSL players choosing to spend their prime years in leagues like the WSL is a little bit of a hit to the NWSL’s reputation. But while it might be easy to dismiss the NWSL as a “retirement league” — a term often tossed at the NWSL’s counterpart, MLS — the issue is more nuanced than that.

The NWSL has long prided itself on its local talent, while European leagues have prided themselves on being a destination for foreign talent. With some of these top players leaving, the NWSL needs to adjust and bill itself as a strong landing spot for international stars, especially up-and-coming ones.

In some ways, the league already has adjusted. The NWSL’s best two players last season were a pair of African forwards who signed with their teams last offseason: Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga, who went on to win league MVP (and who re-signed with the team on Wednesday), and Orlando Pride’s Barbra Banda, who scored the winning goal in the NWSL Championship. Four of the NWSL’s 2024 Best XI first team were non-Americans, plus two on the second team.

Building out teams with up-and-coming local talent will also be key. On Wednesday, Angel City announced that it had re-signed Alyssa Thompson and Gisele Thompson, keeping the sisters in Los Angeles through 2028. Another great example is Washington Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune, who made an immediate impact as a rookie. Selected third overall out of Georgia, Bethune won Rookie of the Year and Midfielder of the Year last season despite missing significant time with a meniscus injury.

With the beginning of the 2025 season approaching in March, several NWSL teams have begun preseason. There’s no doubt that the upcoming season will be just as exciting as the past few years, but even as new faces join the league, there will be a few notable faces missing — and there might be a few more to leave before the season starts.