The dollar amount catches the eye.
Gotham FC introduced Jaedyn Shaw as the NWSL club’s latest jewel on Thursday, making official their record-setting $1.25 million transfer to land the 20-year-old attacking midfielder from the North Carolina Courage.
“It’s the club showing that they’re investing in me and they see my potential and they see my value, and that’s something that I’m really grateful for,” Shaw said. “I want to make sure that I live up to that.”
In a sport in which seven-figure transfers are a new, rapidly proliferating normal on both sides of the ocean (see: Naomi Girma and Alyssa Thompson to Chelsea, Olivia Smith to Arsenal, Lizbeth Ovalle to Orlando Pride), the price tag was a statement of intent, which Gotham was happy to trumpet in its press release:
“The fee will be paid in intraleague transfer funds over installments and represents Gotham’s first seven-figure transfer. The agreement smashed the NWSL’s previous top mark for a player transfer between league clubs.”
Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós said the big-bucks transaction “shows the ambition” of an ownership that “want[s] to stay at the forefront” of a changing women’s soccer market.
“I think that it’s an incredible opportunity for me, and I’m extremely grateful to be part of those headlines, records, whatever,” Shaw said. “But ultimately, it’s gonna be what I can bring out there on the field.”
Shaw started her professional career with the San Diego Wave at the age of 17 in 2022, and debuted for the U.S. women’s national team the following year. She was part of the gold-medal-winning squad at last summer’s Olympics, and has eight goals in 26 USWNT appearances.
This year, however, she struggled to gain a foothold in her first season with the Courage — notching three goals and one assist in 19 matches (10 starts) — and has been dropped from Emma Hayes’ USWNT rosters.
Shaw talked up the Gotham move as “an opportunity for me to take another step in my career and be in an incredible city with an incredible community, being with a club that is really breaking barriers and in incredible tournaments and getting so much exposure,” in addition to making this clear: “My goal’s being on the national team and making those big tournament rosters.”
Amorós declined to be pinned down on where Shaw would line up in a Gotham formation rich with attacking options (“those midfield positions, offensive positions,” was the most specific) and was likewise circumspect in addressing whether she might be available for Friday night’s match in San Diego against the Wave.
Gotham said in its release it’s working on “an updated and extended” contract with Shaw. ESPN has reported the new deal will run through the 2029 season (which would line up with Amorós).
“Our players are very well aware that we’re never satisfied with where our roster is. We always want to make it more competitive,” Gotham general manager Yael Averbuch West told The Post earlier this summer. “We’ve had a lot of turnover over the past few years, and we are looking to secure players at the club … for the upcoming few years so that we can continue to build.”
Gotham are on a two-game NWSL winning streak, as well as a five-match unbeaten run across all competitions, that has vaulted them into sixth place, just two points out from the top four.