Keelin Winters was the first NWSL player ever traded when the Red Stars shipped her to Seattle before pre-season (Photo copyright Meg Linehan for The Equalizer)
Sept. 30 was the initial deadline to complete the preseason trade that sent midfielder Keelin Winters from the Chicago Red Stars to Seattle Reign FC.
Completing that trade, which went down on March 1, required a player to be named later — an allocated U.S. player, specifically — be sent from Seattle to Chicago to balance the deal. Seattle’s allocated U.S. players this season were Hope Solo, Megan Rapinoe, Keelin Winters and Amy Rodriguez, who did not play due to pregnancy.
In the previous week, The Equalizer learned that the Sept. 30 deadline could get pushed back with the topic of subsidized players still being fluid. And here it is: Oct. 1, and no movement. The situation is still fluid as the list of subsidized players gets sorted out. Mexico is still deciding what to do for 2014. Canada is likely to shuffle which players are funded for NWSL teams. And it seems the United States face similar questions.
It could be that changes to allocation will essentially help balance the trade on their own. And it’s still unclear what those changes may even be.
Like many things in the offseason, it’s wait and see for now. But with the Sept. 30 date having been public for some time, an update is necessary.
