From Alex Morgan to Naomi Girma: When women’s transfer hypes failed to become reality | OneFootball

Transfers are supposed to represent possibility. A new club, a new league, a bigger stage and the chance to take the next step in a career. In women’s football, a major signing can become a story before the player even steps onto the pitch. Sometimes, the hype around the move feels almost as important as what happens once she actually plays.

But not every blockbuster transfer becomes the success story everyone imagined. Injuries can get in the way. So can timing, tactics or competition for minutes. A player can move for what looks like a huge opportunity and then discover that the fit isn’t right. Even the best players can struggle to find their place in a new environment.

Here are some of the transfers that arrived with plenty of excitement but never quite lived up to the hype.

Alex Morgan → Tottenham Hotspur

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When Alex Morgan arrived at Tottenham in September 2020, it felt enormous. The two-time World Cup winner and Olympic champion was one of the biggest stars in the game. She joined the WSL while the league was still growing, years before Euro 2022 pushed it into a new spotlight. Spurs called the move a major coup, and it was easy to see why. Morgan had more than 100 international goals and had spent years as one of the faces of the USWNT.

But the timing wasn’t ideal. Morgan was returning from pregnancy, COVID-19 had disrupted the NWSL season, and she was still working her way back to full match fitness. Her Tottenham spell lasted just three months. She made four league appearances and scored twice, both from the penalty spot.

The move never had enough time to become what supporters imagined. That doesn’t mean Morgan failed in England. It was simply a short and unusual chapter in a career already defined by much bigger moments.

Holly Ward → Seattle Reign

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Holly Ward’s move from Vancouver Rise FC to Seattle Reign in March 2026 carried a different kind of hype. Ward had just helped Vancouver win the inaugural Northern Super League championship, finishing the campaign with eight goals and five assists. Her rise into the Canadian national-team picture made a move to the NWSL feel like a natural next step, and Seattle signed her to a two-year contract through 2027.

But the transition has been slower than expected. Ward has struggled for minutes and has yet to record a goal or assist in the 2026 NWSL season, with limited starts along the way. The move highlights how difficult it can be to step into an established league. A player can prove herself at home and still find herself starting over somewhere new.

Ward’s story isn’t finished. She’s only 22 and remains under contract through 2027. But so far, her impact hasn’t matched the excitement around her arrival. Sometimes, the gap between being a star in one environment and earning your place in another is bigger than anyone expects.

Kristie Mewis → West Ham

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Kristie Mewis arrived at West Ham after helping Gotham FC win the 2023 NWSL Championship. She brought years of USWNT experience and the versatility to play several midfield roles. On paper, it looked like the kind of signing that could add experience and quality to a West Ham side looking to climb the WSL table.

Instead, the move barely got started. Mewis made three league appearances in 2023/24, totalling 95 minutes, before making one more league appearance the following season. She didn’t score for the club in the league, but she did deliver one VERY iconic corner kick.

The numbers tell part of the story, but they don’t explain everything. Mewis was adapting to a new league and a different tactical environment, while West Ham were also going through a difficult period. The result was a transfer that never gave her enough consistent opportunities to show what she could offer.

Naomi Girma → Chelsea

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Few recent transfers arrived with more expectation than Naomi Girma’s move to Chelsea. The USWNT defender became the first women’s player to command a reported $1 million-plus transfer fee when she joined from San Diego Wave in January 2025. By then, Girma had established herself as one of the best defenders in the world.

Then, almost immediately, football got in the way. Girma injured herself during her Chelsea debut against Brighton and left after 57 minutes. Chelsea went on to win a domestic treble, but injury disrupted Girma’s first season as she adjusted to a new country and league. Her second season brought more opportunities, but injuries continued to limit her involvement. She made 10 WSL appearances in 2025/26 and scored once.

Calling the move a failure would be unfair. Girma has described Chelsea as a long-term decision. She didn’t arrive expecting to spend only six months there. She wanted a new challenge and another opportunity to develop. Still, for a transfer that generated so much excitement, her first 18 months in London were more complicated than expected.

Jenna Nighswonger → Arsenal

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Jenna Nighswonger arrived in London with a serious résumé. She was an NWSL champion and Rookie of the Year with Gotham, an Olympic gold medallist with the USWNT and one of the league’s most exciting attacking full-backs. Arsenal looked like an opportunity to test herself at one of Europe’s biggest clubs.

Instead, minutes became the problem. Nighswonger made just six appearances across all competitions for Arsenal before spending the second half of the 2025/26 season on loan at Aston Villa, where she made eight appearances and five starts. By August 2026, Arsenal had sold her to Bay FC as a UWCL champion.

Her story shows that reputation doesn’t guarantee opportunity. Nighswonger joined a squad packed with international talent and never found the consistent role she had enjoyed at Gotham. Sometimes, a transfer doesn’t fail because the player isn’t good enough. There simply isn’t enough room for her to become the player the club signed.

Lieke Martens → Paris Saint-Germain

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When PSG signed Lieke Martens in 2022, they were getting one of the most decorated attackers in European football. Martens had spent five seasons at Barcelona, winning the Champions League and nine domestic titles. She also had a reputation for changing games from the wing, and PSG handed her a three-year contract.

But the move started with a setback. Martens suffered a foot injury during Euro 2022 and missed the rest of the tournament. Injuries continued to follow her during her time in Paris. There were flashes of her quality, including a two-assist Champions League performance against Vllaznia, but her PSG spell never became the dominant chapter many expected after her Barcelona years.

Lia Wälti → Juventus

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After seven years at Arsenal, Lia Wälti had achieved almost everything she could in North London. She won the WSL, two League Cups and, most importantly, the Champions League in 2025. By the time she left, she had made 183 appearances for Arsenal. At 32, Juventus offered something different: a new league, a new country and a fresh challenge.

Wälti described the decision as one of the hardest she had ever made. Juventus saw her as an experienced international midfielder who could help the club compete at the highest level. Initially, the move worked. Wälti made 29 appearances across all competitions in 2025/26, including 16 in Serie A and seven in the Champions League, while Juventus won domestic silverware.

But something was missing. After just one season, Wälti left Juventus and returned to England, joining Brighton in summer 2026. Her explanation made the transfer story much more revealing. Wälti said she had “missed the feeling of being valued as a footballer” and spoke about the differences in standards, support and football culture between Italy and England. She also missed English stadiums and the feeling that women’s football was being actively invested in.

Transfer announcements rarely tell us that part of the story. They tell us where a player is going, but they can’t tell us how she’ll feel six months later. Juventus gave Wälti the new challenge she thought she wanted. It gave her Champions League football and the chance to experience a different league and culture. But after one season, she knew she wanted something else.

For Wälti, home was elsewhere.

So, what actually makes a transfer work?

These moves don’t have one simple explanation. Morgan’s timing was complicated by pregnancy recovery and an interrupted season. Girma battled injury. Nighswonger struggled for minutes in a crowded Arsenal squad. Mewis never found a consistent role at West Ham. Martens dealt with injuries in Paris, while Wälti found that adapting to a new football culture was harder than expected.

Ward’s story is still being written. That’s important because a transfer isn’t simply a player moving from one badge to another. It’s a person entering a completely different environment, with new teammates, coaches, tactics, expectations and competition. Sometimes, that also means adapting to a new country and culture.

The bigger the name, the easier it is to forget that. A superstar can arrive with a World Cup medal, Olympic gold, a Champions League title or a record-breaking transfer fee and still need time to find her place.

Could the WSL have its own “retirement league” problem?

There is another side to this conversation. The NWSL continues to attract international stars, but Tobin Heath has warned about the risk of the league being seen as a destination for established European stars late in their careers. Her point wasn’t that the NWSL is a retirement league. She warned that it could develop that reputation if the biggest international names consistently arrived at the end of their careers.

That makes the movement in the opposite direction even more interesting. The WSL isn’t just attracting established stars anymore. It is becoming a destination for some of the biggest names in the world, including Naomi Girma, Mapi León and Alexia Putellas.

That brings another challenge: the bigger the name, the bigger the expectations.

And no transfer shows that better than Putellas’ move from Barcelona to London City Lionesses.

Alexia Putellas: the next big test

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On paper, there may not be a more exciting transfer in women’s football right now. Putellas left Barcelona after 14 years, 507 appearances, 233 goals and four Champions League titles. She joined London City Lionesses after another European triumph, bringing two Ballon d’Ors and a reputation as one of the greatest players of her generation with her.

London City didn’t just sign a famous player. They signed someone who spent more than a decade setting the standard at one of the most dominant clubs in women’s football. The expectations were enormous before she had even kicked a ball in England.

The move already feels bigger than a transfer. London City want to challenge for major honours, while Putellas has spoken about helping shape the club’s ambitious project and using the WSL to become an even more complete player. But ambition doesn’t guarantee success.

Putellas has gone from a Barcelona side that won four Champions League titles in six seasons to a London City team that finished sixth in its first WSL campaign, 22 points outside the top three. The club has also undergone a huge transformation, with eight new players arriving this summer. Putellas isn’t just adapting to a new league. She’s helping build a new team.

At Barcelona, Putellas knew the environment around her. She knew her teammates, the tactical principles and the expectations. Barcelona expected to win almost every competition it entered. At London City, Putellas is helping create that environment herself.

That’s where the risk lies.

It’s not that Putellas suddenly isn’t good enough. If this move doesn’t become the success story everyone expects, it won’t mean she is “washed.” It won’t automatically mean London City made a bad decision either. Football doesn’t work that simply.

A world-class player can still find herself in a system that doesn’t suit her perfectly. Injuries can change a season. New teammates need time to build chemistry. A club can sign eight talented players and still need months to become a cohesive team.

Putellas knows that. She described the move as “a new beginning and a big change” and said she wanted to use the WSL to learn new things, play in different positions and discover her limits. She isn’t arriving in England because she has nothing left to prove. She’s arriving because she still wants to grow.

But when you’re Alexia Putellas, growth comes with an enormous spotlight.

London City’s opening weekend showed just how big that spotlight is. The club sold out its home opener against Manchester United. Putellas made her WSL debut, and London City won 2–1, with Van de Donk scoring the late winner. It was the dream start.

But that’s also the danger of a blockbuster transfer. One great performance can quickly become the new expectation. One win becomes the start of a title challenge. One quiet game becomes a question about adaptation. One injury can spark a debate about whether the move was worth it.

Suddenly, the player isn’t just being judged on her football. She’s being judged against the story everyone created around her transfer.

The biggest transfers in women’s football show how far the game has come. They also remind us of something important: a big name doesn’t guarantee a big outcome.

Alex Morgan could arrive in England as one of the biggest stars in the world and still find that timing and circumstances limit her impact. Naomi Girma could command a record-breaking fee and have her first Chelsea season disrupted by injury. Jenna Nighswonger could arrive at Arsenal as an Olympic champion and still struggle for minutes.

Putellas could arrive at London City as one of the greatest players women’s football has ever produced and still discover that building something new is harder than joining something already established.

That doesn’t make these players failures. It makes the transfer market human.

Behind every announcement video, record fee, Ballon d’Or, World Cup medal and social-media explosion is an athlete trying to adapt to a new environment. She’s learning new teammates, new systems and new expectations while trying to figure out how to be herself somewhere completely different.

The hype tells us what a transfer could become. The football decides what it actually is.

The question isn’t simply who women’s football can attract. It’s whether the environment they arrive in can give them the conditions to thrive.

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