Credit: Peter Creveling-Imagn Images
Angel City has paid a hefty sum three times over in order to get and keep Alyssa Thompson within their ranks.
First, there was the tangled web of rule-shaping to ensure that Thompson would be available to be drafted, having just turned 18 in late 2022, and with no under-18 signing mechanism formally in place yet in the National Women’s Soccer League. The club gave up three college draft picks, including the No. 5 overall pick in 2023 (not to mention passing Yazmeen Ryan through to Gotham), to acquire the No. 1 overall pick and thus keep the Southern California prospect in her own backyard.
The contract Thompson then signed likely wasn’t cheap, either. As a blue-chip teenage prospect who was the top pick of the 2023 NWSL draft and seemed to become draft-eligible that year to be signed only by Angel City, Thompson held all the leverage. A three-year deal for a player already with two caps for the U.S. women’s national team was sure to tie up a great deal of the club’s payroll.
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