She played for West Virginia University for three years before transferring to USC to graduate in 2022. Went undrafted and signed with PSG last year. Her Wikipedia page has her with four appearances for PSG instead of the two at FBRef, but she was clearly pretty far down the depth chart there.
In her only PSG start (January 20) she played at RB, so that’s good…but the opponent (Bordeaux) went down 8-1, so she might have started because the regular RB had earned a rest while her club played a tomato can. So hard to make much from that.
With Nigeria she played two matches in 2021 (both as a late sub). In 2022 she played five matches including a start (at LB) against Canada in April (0-1 loss). That’s her only full 90.
Her last appearance was as a substitute in the friendlies against the USWNT in September ’22. She wasn’t included on the World Cup squad, or any of the Super Falcons fixtures in ’23.
So she looks like a sort of second-tier international and PSG reserve, and as such her paper trail is thin. How she’ll do here? We’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully she fills the hole left by the loss of Kuikka, though, so…
Another person here said she didn't declare...presumably because she went straight to PSU outta college. I read the goodbye post from USC indicating she was foregoing her 5th year to go to PSG...
If so she doesn’t seem to have caught on there, given her minutes. Perhaps the loan is them hoping she’ll get more time here and with it either gain the experience to break into their XI or conclusively prove she can’t. Low risk for the return for PSG either way.
Kinda weird she didn’t sign w PSG until ‘23. Says she graduated in June ‘22 but didn’t play in the 22-23 season.
From what I read, she played at USC in the 2022-2023 season, and left straight from there (foregoing her 5th year) to join PSG...
From PSG's news release:
"After playing for Atlanta-based Concorde Fire, she joined West Virginia University in 2019 and played three seasons with the Montaineers (53 matches, 4 goals).
In 2022, the defender continued her career and her studies in psychology at the University of Southern California. She played in all the matches during the season, making a total of 16 appearances and scoring 3 goals."
Low risk for PSG. The loan also comes with the option to buy on the Thorns part. So it seems if they like her, she could be bought...and if not, well then she goes back, no big deal. Buys us another year to find a starting RB. Her contract is through 2026, though, so that might be an expensive buyout for a player that may not be worth it. Guess we'll see!
Yeah, agree. If anything, we're bringing the floor up. If Muller and Payne are playing FB, I don't have to ever see Nally at FB again lol. I'm not mad at strengthening our depth and giving the players at the bottom competition to earn a start, or even the sub spot. For a while now, we've had some deep depth stick around a bit too long imo...
The small rosters make it difficult to carry enough reserves to really “compete” one against the other, and the (at least until recently) low cap meant that once past the starters you could afford to have quality not playing regularly…
Plus I suspect the Wilkinson and her assistant Norris don’t have much confidence in the quality of the reserves. So they don’t get minutes, and can’t improve.
I’m hoping that changes under the new regime, natch…
The 2022 USC season ended in November 2022, so perhaps she wasn't playing soccer until she signed with PSG in July 2023. Or maybe she practiced with the USC team in spring 2023 (this typically includes some friendlies/scrimmages against other colleges), not being sure what she was doing next, and decided to jump ship when the PSG offer arrived in the summer. She could well have needed to finish her degree that spring (2023) also.
It’s pretty common for players to finish their studies before starting
Jessie Fleming signed in July
Bunny Shaw signed in June
I wouldn’t read anything into it. Also, from what I can see … she never applied for the NWSL draft. Lots of players who have signed directly in Europe.
Not sure if Payne made herself available for the draft. I saw a list where she wasn’t on it. Every year, there are a few players who don’t make themselves eligible
She seemed to be an academic achiever. My guess is she went to USC to finish her grad studies and didn’t want to be distracted by the NWSL draft when she had options in Europe. I hadn’t heard that she held a first round grade, but I will tell you she was an impressive young athlete at West Virginia. I like my fullbacks to have better passing skills than I saw with her, but her speed and stout defending stood out.
She was a solid player at West Virginia. Jordan Brewster got more of the publicity, but she was more athletic. I didn’t see much offensive skill outside of her ability to dribble and some soft touch passes here and there.
I wasn’t shocked to see her sign with PSG as a flyer. Would have thought a lower league, but requisite skills were there. Not as good as Bianca St. Georges when she played there, but seemed like a good developmental prospect.
Curious to see what players play at what position, but I am feeling better at our fullback position
Yeah, I did read somewhere that she was a "defense-first" RB....which frankly, I'm very happy to hear. We needed some more defensive options. Thanks for this insight, very helpful!
I don’t think she formally declared for the draft and with a sister in Sevilla. I don’t recall her carrying a first round grade, but I liked her athleticism and signing with PSG is a pretty good sign of what she was viewed as
https://x.com/Phuocerman/status/1759273307256598587?s=20
Phuoc I can never tell if you're reporting or speculating lol
All I can say is I am going to be right almost every time this year ha ha.
Phuoc "For The" Nguyen?
So, Payne...
She played for West Virginia University for three years before transferring to USC to graduate in 2022. Went undrafted and signed with PSG last year. Her Wikipedia page has her with four appearances for PSG instead of the two at FBRef, but she was clearly pretty far down the depth chart there.
In her only PSG start (January 20) she played at RB, so that’s good…but the opponent (Bordeaux) went down 8-1, so she might have started because the regular RB had earned a rest while her club played a tomato can. So hard to make much from that.
With Nigeria she played two matches in 2021 (both as a late sub). In 2022 she played five matches including a start (at LB) against Canada in April (0-1 loss). That’s her only full 90.
Her last appearance was as a substitute in the friendlies against the USWNT in September ’22. She wasn’t included on the World Cup squad, or any of the Super Falcons fixtures in ’23.
So she looks like a sort of second-tier international and PSG reserve, and as such her paper trail is thin. How she’ll do here? We’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully she fills the hole left by the loss of Kuikka, though, so…
Another person here said she didn't declare...presumably because she went straight to PSU outta college. I read the goodbye post from USC indicating she was foregoing her 5th year to go to PSG...
If so she doesn’t seem to have caught on there, given her minutes. Perhaps the loan is them hoping she’ll get more time here and with it either gain the experience to break into their XI or conclusively prove she can’t. Low risk for the return for PSG either way.
Kinda weird she didn’t sign w PSG until ‘23. Says she graduated in June ‘22 but didn’t play in the 22-23 season.
From what I read, she played at USC in the 2022-2023 season, and left straight from there (foregoing her 5th year) to join PSG...
From PSG's news release:
"After playing for Atlanta-based Concorde Fire, she joined West Virginia University in 2019 and played three seasons with the Montaineers (53 matches, 4 goals).
In 2022, the defender continued her career and her studies in psychology at the University of Southern California. She played in all the matches during the season, making a total of 16 appearances and scoring 3 goals."
Low risk for PSG. The loan also comes with the option to buy on the Thorns part. So it seems if they like her, she could be bought...and if not, well then she goes back, no big deal. Buys us another year to find a starting RB. Her contract is through 2026, though, so that might be an expensive buyout for a player that may not be worth it. Guess we'll see!
Interesting. Her Wiki page says 2022. If she really was there until June ‘23 that closes the odd gap.
Yeah, this is kind of a win-win. PSG gets minutes for someone who’d be a depth piece there and we get a possible RB either-starter-or-backup we need.
My guess is she’s got to be at least NWSL-replacement-level good. PSG wouldn’t have bothered even as a reserve if not. Worth a shot, at least.
Yeah, agree. If anything, we're bringing the floor up. If Muller and Payne are playing FB, I don't have to ever see Nally at FB again lol. I'm not mad at strengthening our depth and giving the players at the bottom competition to earn a start, or even the sub spot. For a while now, we've had some deep depth stick around a bit too long imo...
The small rosters make it difficult to carry enough reserves to really “compete” one against the other, and the (at least until recently) low cap meant that once past the starters you could afford to have quality not playing regularly…
Plus I suspect the Wilkinson and her assistant Norris don’t have much confidence in the quality of the reserves. So they don’t get minutes, and can’t improve.
I’m hoping that changes under the new regime, natch…
The 2022 USC season ended in November 2022, so perhaps she wasn't playing soccer until she signed with PSG in July 2023. Or maybe she practiced with the USC team in spring 2023 (this typically includes some friendlies/scrimmages against other colleges), not being sure what she was doing next, and decided to jump ship when the PSG offer arrived in the summer. She could well have needed to finish her degree that spring (2023) also.
It’s pretty common for players to finish their studies before starting
Jessie Fleming signed in July
Bunny Shaw signed in June
I wouldn’t read anything into it. Also, from what I can see … she never applied for the NWSL draft. Lots of players who have signed directly in Europe.
Not sure if Payne made herself available for the draft. I saw a list where she wasn’t on it. Every year, there are a few players who don’t make themselves eligible
https://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/nwsl-announces-current-list-of-players-registered-for-2023-nwsl-draft-presented-by-ally#
Either way, not drafted but went a year without a paper trail. Wonder what the deal there was?
She seemed to be an academic achiever. My guess is she went to USC to finish her grad studies and didn’t want to be distracted by the NWSL draft when she had options in Europe. I hadn’t heard that she held a first round grade, but I will tell you she was an impressive young athlete at West Virginia. I like my fullbacks to have better passing skills than I saw with her, but her speed and stout defending stood out.
She was a solid player at West Virginia. Jordan Brewster got more of the publicity, but she was more athletic. I didn’t see much offensive skill outside of her ability to dribble and some soft touch passes here and there.
I wasn’t shocked to see her sign with PSG as a flyer. Would have thought a lower league, but requisite skills were there. Not as good as Bianca St. Georges when she played there, but seemed like a good developmental prospect.
Curious to see what players play at what position, but I am feeling better at our fullback position
Here is an extended video
https://youtu.be/kHXGyS_G5Sw?feature=shared
Yeah, I did read somewhere that she was a "defense-first" RB....which frankly, I'm very happy to hear. We needed some more defensive options. Thanks for this insight, very helpful!
That Sam Coffey/Yaz Ryan/Amirah Ali COVID watching did put some players on the observation list. She was definitely one of them
Did Nicole declare for the NWSL draft and not get picked, or did she just go straight to PSG outta college and not declare?
I'm guessing the latter...I'm sure a player at PSG outta college would've been picked if she were in the draft...
She seems to have some really nice dribbling/ball control skills, and that was in college...her sister is sure a fun watch!
She was not on the eligible player list for the 2023 NWSL draft.
I don’t think she formally declared for the draft and with a sister in Sevilla. I don’t recall her carrying a first round grade, but I liked her athleticism and signing with PSG is a pretty good sign of what she was viewed as
Let's hope the last move is a double signing. Coffey and Smith resigning