USA midfielder Sam Coffey in talks to join Manchester City from Portland Thorns | Women’s football

Manchester Metropolis are in superior talks to signal the US midfielder Sam Coffey from Portland Thorns, the Guardian understands.

The 27-year-old has been granted permission to fly to Manchester to attempt to finalise the transfer, which a number of sources have mentioned is near completion, and will give Metropolis an enormous increase of their quest to win a primary Girls’s Tremendous League title since 2016.

The English membership are believed to have been monitoring Coffey for an intensive interval. She has spent three years with Portland and was their captain in 2025. Coffey has two seasons on her contract.

She has performed 42 occasions at senior worldwide degree for the four-time world champions, scoring 5 occasions and offering 4 assists, and helped the US win gold on the 2024 Olympics. She is most adept within the holding midfield function.

Coffey was not named within the US’s 26-player squad on Thursday for a coaching camp in California this month, and that’s understood to be associated to her being given permission to journey to England.

The transfer can be a blow to the NWSL, with one other of its largest stars leaving, and particularly one other key participant for the US nationwide aspect. It could observe high-profile exits for Alyssa Thompson and Naomi Girma, who have been snapped up by Chelsea final 12 months, and the USA right-back Emily Fox is in good kind for Arsenal after shifting in January 2024 from North Carolina Braveness.

Metropolis are six factors clear on the high of the WSL on the midway stage in a season that resumes this weekend after the winter break.

Brighton on Thursday signed the midfielder Olaug Tvedten from the Norwegian membership Vålerenga. Brighton’s head coach, Dario Vidosic, described Tvedten as “a technical goalscoring midfielder with actual high quality”.

Leicester confirmed the signing of the skilled full-back Ashleigh Neville, who was Tottenham’s longest-serving participant, and Bristol Metropolis introduced their acquisition of the England winger Katie Robinson from Aston Villa. Leicester’s Janice Cayman has joined PSV, a transfer understood to have been predominantly motivated by a want to be nearer to household and associates.