06-24-2021, 10:39 AM
You may see "unattached" next to Christen Press and Tobin Heath and wonder why that is--the short answer is they were playing for Manchester United, but that season has ended, and with it, their one-year deals.
With the Olympics coming up and being committed to the USWNT for now, there's no real need to have a club contract in place for the time being. One big reason why they might not want that is that new NWSL team Racing Louisville selected both players' NWSL rights several months ago in the expansion draft. Neither Heath nor Press seems overly keen on playing for Louisville (it's something of an open secret that Heath and Press are a couple, though they've never publicly confirmed it, as far as I know; they live in Portland in the NWSL offseason, and Heath has played for the Portland Thorns since the NWSL started, while Press has bounced around and not been shy about saying that she doesn't want to play for particular teams). They'll play when they want to, and for whatever team they want to. Louisville knew drafting their rights was a big risk when they did it, but they have the rights, so there will have to be a deal worked out if Press and Heath are to play this fall.
With the Olympics coming up and being committed to the USWNT for now, there's no real need to have a club contract in place for the time being. One big reason why they might not want that is that new NWSL team Racing Louisville selected both players' NWSL rights several months ago in the expansion draft. Neither Heath nor Press seems overly keen on playing for Louisville (it's something of an open secret that Heath and Press are a couple, though they've never publicly confirmed it, as far as I know; they live in Portland in the NWSL offseason, and Heath has played for the Portland Thorns since the NWSL started, while Press has bounced around and not been shy about saying that she doesn't want to play for particular teams). They'll play when they want to, and for whatever team they want to. Louisville knew drafting their rights was a big risk when they did it, but they have the rights, so there will have to be a deal worked out if Press and Heath are to play this fall.