Fansided

KC Current have made a statement in the NWSL offseason

By Caden Charpentier

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 29: Matt Potter Head Coach of the Kansas City Current walks the pitch before the 2022 National Womens Soccer League Championship Match against Portland Thorns FC at Audi Field on October 29, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Ira L. Black/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 29: Matt Potter Head Coach of the Kansas City Current walks the pitch before the 2022 National Womens Soccer League Championship Match against Portland Thorns FC at Audi Field on October 29, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Ira L. Black/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The KC Current mean business, putting together an inspiring offseason after falling just short of a title last year.

Talk about making a splash. Since the Current laid out their plans of taking professional women’s soccer to the next level through increased investment, there were few questions about whether this club will succeed. Nobody could have imagined it was going to move as quickly as it has.

Heading into just their third season in existence, the Kansas City Current are putting themselves on the map in soccer in the United States and worldwide.

The 2023 NWSL Draft is coming up this week, but for Camille Levin Ashton and the Current, there was no time to wait to begin bulking up their roster. As confirmed by the club on Monday afternoon, Kansas City has signed the most sought-after free agent on the market this offseason, Brazilian international Debinha, on a two-year deal with an option for a third attached. The accolades on the club and international levels tell the whole story.

The game-changing midfielder finished with 48 goals and 20 assists in 109 starts for the North Carolina Courage, winning two NWSL championships, three league shields, and a Challenge Cup to begin last season’s campaign.

Her 56 goals in 129 appearances for the Brazilian national team are currently good for third most of all time. Debinha reunites with Sam Mewis, Lynn Williams, and Kristen Hamilton in Kansas City whom she played with from 2017 to 2020 in North Carolina.

https://twitter.com/thekccurrent/status/1612494532192489472?s=20&t=7ELzsssmSXzdnAvvC-R77g

So far since their defeat in the NWSL Championship to the Portland Thorns, (other than bringing in the two-time NWSL champion), the Longs have signed both Morgan Gautrat, and Vanessa DiBernardo from a reeling Chicago Red Stars squad, re-signed promising young defender Alex Loera until 2025, added Swedish international Mimmi Larsson to the frontline, brought back one of their most indispensable figures from last season, Hailie Mace on an extension, and added a Super Bowl MVP to their ownership group. That is not even the end of the list.

The new state-of-the-art training facility for the club opened in late June of 2021, and with the plans for the new stadium nailed down, players want to be a part of a women’s soccer revolution beginning in the heartland of the United States.

Four different players last season netted four or more goals in the regular season, and the club has brought in four players that combined for 35 goal involvements in all competitions in 2022.

Head coach Matt Potter has an adaptable, and deep KC Current roster at his disposal

The only real question that Matt Potter and the club have heading into the new season is what players he is going to start out of the pool of world-class players that now are available. Mewis is still recovering from arthroscopic surgery on her right knee that she underwent in August of 2021, and with neither the club nor the national team having any idea of a date to return to the pitch, Ashton and the Current have compiled another plan.

https://twitter.com/thekccurrent/status/1601365494191513600?s=20&t=7ELzsssmSXzdnAvvC-R77g

At the age of 35, Desiree Scott is still deciding on her future with the club and football going forward, but given the way Kansas City has attacked this offseason, the club could potentially live without its most outspoken leader and veteran on and off the pitch.

Potter primarily deployed a five-player midfield toward the end of the season with Loera at the base, and Scott and Lo’eau LaBonta in the middle. Gautrat and DiBernardo are more than capable of filling in any of those middle three positions given the flexibility the two of them demonstrated in the Windy City.

Cece Kizer and Hamilton have to start up top together to start the campaign in the NWSL in a few months, but with Williams making the USWNT squad for the January camp, where does she fit in the squad? Life is good for Matt Potter and his coaching staff if they have to choose between these three talented attackers, and youngster Elyse Bennett before each match.

Debinha may change the way Kansas City plays, but to have a world-class electric presence in the middle of the pitch like that makes the jobs of the supporting players just that much simpler. Could we see a front three, or will Potter maintain the same 3-5-2 with wingbacks he established as the club’s bread and butter last season?

There are a plethora of cities where soccer is popular, but right now when it comes to the women’s side of things, Kansas City leads the pack. This club is no longer the hunter, it is going to be the hunted in 2023. Potter and the front office will embrace that, and given how much depth and talent this team now has at its disposal, the only goal on their minds has to be getting back to the NWSL Championship for the second consecutive season.

https://twitter.com/thekccurrent/status/1610803659427971073?s=20&t=7ELzsssmSXzdnAvvC-R77g

Ashton and the Current still possess a top-10 pick in the upcoming draft in Philadelphia on Thursday night. Kansas City cannot miss right now. A brand new stadium for women’s soccer is coming in 2024, and they’ll have a roster to live up to it. There is only one honest answer to who is the winner of the NWSL offseason so far. No matter what any of the other clubs do before March 25, none of them can say they acquired the most prized free agent of the league’s first-ever free agency period.

Home/NWSL