Racing Louisville has its first ever players!

I’d intended to let today’s MMC breathe a little bit, and by a little bit I mean about a week, before writing anything else on this fair website, but then Racing Louisville went and announced its first ever player signings!

Welcome to Louisville, Savannah McCaskill and Yuki Nagasato! Racing picks up these two on a trade with Chicago Red Stars. The trade also included an international roster spot for the next two seasons. What did Chicago get out of the deal?

Racing Louisville FC has also acquired an extra international slot for the 2021 and 2022 seasons as well as the Red Stars’ first-round pick in the 2021 NWSL Draft — meaning the club can expect to select at No. 1 and No. 5 overall. In exchange, the rest of Chicago’s squad received protection from Racing Louisville FC in the Nov. 12 expansion draft.

I don’t think NWSL’s rules on players and rosters are quite as labyrinthine as MLS’s, but it’s certainly more complicated than “pay Club A $X to break Player B’s contract, sign Player B to new contract”, which is generally the way it’s done everywhere else. Giving up two of your best players to keep Racing from taking Julie Ertz (damn!) is a choice, I guess.

Ok, how about the players themselves? McCaskill is a regular with the senior USWNT and was a great college player at South Carolina before joining the professional ranks. Nagasato is a Japan legend, winning the 2011 World Cup and was Red Stars’ second leading scorer when the club made the 2019 NWSL championship game behind one of the best players in the world, Sam Kerr.

Both McCaskill and Nagasato are strikers, but they play very different styles. McCaskill is more of a classic number nine, knocking down balls and playing with her back to goal, but she can really exploit space with quick bursts of speed and a strong shot, too. Yuki Nagasato is slightly more of a poacher and relies on movement, but she’s a very good facilitator as well, with 8 assists in 2019.

Both players are very strong first additions to Racing’s inaugural roster. Welcome to the club, and welcome to Louisville!