Shortly after Naomi Girma’s first hyperlinks to Chelsea appeared, a video from the match between the USA and England resurfaced.
Following the ultimate whistle of a scoreless draw at Wembley Stadium final November, cameras caught Chelsea defenders , Shiny prodding playfully on the U.S. badge on Girma’s jersey, protecting her mouth as she talked.
Months later, whereas formally carrying Chelsea blue, Girma laughed when proven the video, admitting the 2 had been asking if she was coming to London. Calling the second intriguing and even an inflection level is a little bit of a attain, nevertheless it helped rev up hypothesis over Girma’s future within the NWSL and her eventual vacation spot within the switch window.
Nonetheless, her journey to a record-breaking $1.1million (£890,000) switch began almost a 12 months earlier when Girma requested to go on mortgage from the San Diego Wave in January 2024. She was prepared for Europe.
Girma joined the NWSL because the No. 1 draft decide within the 2022 entry draft, chosen by the growth group in San Diego forward of their inaugural season. Most NWSL growth groups don’t instantly make a major play for the postseason, however the Wave completed in third place that first 12 months and Girma was voted each the league rookie of the 12 months and defender of the 12 months. She would go back-to-back because the league’s prime defender in 2023 when the Wave received the NWSL protect as the highest group of the common season.
On the similar time, Girma was making a reputation for herself with the U.S. ladies’s nationwide group, incomes her first cap in 2022 underneath former head coach Vlatko Andonovski. Forward of the 2023 World Cup, Megan Rapinoe offered her evaluation of Girma’s instant-starter standing.
“I don’t assume you possibly can depart her off the sector,” Rapinoe informed a handful of reporters forward of a SheBelieves Cup match. “Calm, extraordinarily good. I don’t assume her physicality will get talked about sufficient, deceptively fast. When you’ve got any form of quickness and mind, then that’s a wrap. She will be able to play any form of ball. She’s an amazing chief. She’s simply f***ing good.”
By the point the 2023 World Cup rolled round, Girma was a locked starter — although alongside Julie Ertz who had unexpectedly returned to the group in time for the event, and never Becky Sauerbrunn (who wasn’t chosen attributable to a foot damage). For as a lot because the USWNT’s earliest exit in a World Cup has been dissected, Girma and Ertz had been the clear brilliant spot, solely permitting two pictures on purpose via the 4 matches performed.
Final summer season on the Olympics, Girma as soon as once more performed each minute of a significant event for the group. This time, it was her coronation, ending with a gold medal.
“She’s the very best defender I’ve ever seen,” head coach Emma Hayes stated after the shutout semifinal victory in opposition to Germany. “.”
As Girma’s profile rose in the USA and the worldwide sport (Ballon d’Or snub apart), the Wave’s technical workers realized they’d wrestle to afford her. In June 2023, the membership signed Girma to a brand new deal via the 2026 season, the utmost contract size on the time.
By the beginning of 2024, nonetheless, Girma had requested the group to contemplate an abroad mortgage. Sources briefed on these conversations didn’t specify which group — solely that, due to the quick turnaround time, the Wave had been unable to honor that request.
Through the season, the teaching workers and entrance workplace (and finally, possession) had been going via modifications of their very own. Normal supervisor Molly Downtain introduced her departure in February, although her last day with the Wave occurred in April. By June, the group employed Camille Ashton to function the membership’s new sporting director and normal supervisor. Head coach Casey Stoney was fired later that month after a seven-game winless streak.
It could fall to Ashton to find out if Girma was nonetheless set on Europe. The 2024 summer season window was nonetheless a theoretical risk, although at this level — primarily based on the NWSL membership’s understanding of the scenario — Girma had not but decided what her most popular vacation spot was.
By way of the autumn and into the winter switch window, Girma was linked to a few of the highest European golf equipment: Arsenal, Lyon, and Chelsea. Arsenal was the primary of these golf equipment to really fall out of the working, although sources briefed on the group’s conversations with Girma and her agent did say that former Arsenal defender Alex Scott had an “casual” dialogue together with her over a possible transfer.
Lyon, as issues inched nearer to a last deal, was the primary challenger to Chelsea, offering the Wave with a $1million provide for a switch payment of their very own. There was no scarcity of American teammates to speak to there about their experiences in France, with USWNT captain Lindsey Horan and defender Sofia Huerta, at present on mortgage from Reign FC, each on the roster.
Chelsea, in some ways although, was at all times the frontrunner, and never simply due to their willingness to be aggressive of their switch window spending.
Naomi Girma had at all times been on Chelsea’s radar and scouts had beforehand filed studies on her over the previous couple of years as Girma settled into the NWSL. Their hand was pressured, nonetheless, final November after middle again Kadeisha Buchanan tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). One supply accustomed to the deal confirmed that Girma grew to become a main goal that month — and head coach Sonia Bompastor had been fairly clear on the necessity for depth at center-back throughout a number of press conferences this winter.
The purpose for Chelsea stays to win the Champions League, and the group didn’t really feel it might do this with Millie Shiny and Nathalie Bjorn alone.
Again in San Diego, the membership needed to steadiness two priorities: serving to Girma play the place she wished to play, but in addition guaranteeing the Wave bought a good shake on the ultimate deal.
At first, there have been exploratory conversations about Chelsea sending a participant to California together with a switch payment, however that turned too sophisticated and the ultimate discussions had been solely about the proper greenback quantity. Sources briefed on these conversations additionally stated that San Diego wasn’t solely positive it will be wrapped up in time for the window closing on January 30, however in addition they understood it wouldn’t be useful for them or Girma if she didn’t make the transfer this winter.
The Wave had already begun getting ready for her absence on the 2025 roster, most crucially signing 17-year-old Trinity Armstrong, convincing her to make the leap to the professionals after a profitable freshman 12 months on the College of North Carolina which culminated in an NCAA nationwide championship — and a summer season with the U.S. under-17s on the FIFA U-17 World Cup by which the group received bronze. Armstrong, not in contrast to Girma, had performed each minute of that event for the youth nationwide group.
Armstrong could also be poised to observe within the footsteps of Girma each in San Diego and her development to the senior nationwide group, however the Wave additionally knew that there was no approach to substitute Girma with a single participant. She has at all times been one in every of one. Slightly than concentrate on a giant signing to compensate, the Wave have opted to concentrate on the group’s depth and chemistry as a complete underneath new head coach Jonas Eidevall.
By January 21, the Wave and Chelsea had agreed to the phrases of the switch: a $1.1million payment, which sources stated could be cut up throughout three years. It was additionally the primary day of San Diego’s preseason — which Girma reported to — and some days after the U.S. ladies’s nationwide group introduced Girma would miss the January camp attributable to a minor calf damage.
By that Sunday, all the trimmings of her announcement had been in place, together with the hype video, promotional images, and the custom-made ‘Girma 16′ jerseys prominently featured on the group’s retailer web site.
The second had lastly arrived, and no chilly London drizzle might dampen the second of Girma stepping out from the tunnel at Stamford Bridge in blue, her hand raised in a wave, because the stadium blared the refrain of the Crimson Scorching Chili Peppers’ “Californication.”
This text initially appeared in .
San Diego Wave, Soccer, NWSL
2025 The Athletic Media Firm
