Portland Thorns have acquired Nigerian international Nicole Payne on loan
The Thorns keep strengthening the backline, with their latest acquisition being the PSG defender.
With just a couple of days before the start of the Coachella Valley Invitational, the Portland Thorns keep strengthening their roster. The focus has been the defense this offseason, and understandably so after losing two of their starting defenders in the past few months.
After acquiring Danish international Isabella Obaze in early January, this month has brought another defender to the fold. Nicole Payne, an Alabama native, has been announced as the latest addition to the Rose City club. But unlike the first one, the latter will only join the club for a short period of time since she’s on loan from the Division 1 Féminine club PSG. However, her joining the club has been like a dream come true for her.
“In speaking with Nicole, it was discovered that the Thorns are a club she has a deep admiration for. Her desire to represent this city and this crest is what we want from any new signing. When presented with this opportunity, she welcomed it with open arms. We are so thrilled to have her with us,” General Manager and President of Soccer Operations Karina LeBlanc said.
Payne not only has NCAA experience having played for the West Virginia Mountaineers and the USC Trojans during her time in college but also internationally, having debuted with the Nigerian national team in 2021. At a club level, she joined PSG recently — in July 2023 — and made her debut with them the past January. Her contract with the Rouge et Bleu runs until June 2026.
“Nicole is an exciting addition to our roster, she is a defender first and foremost, but also has an incredible drive and desire to get forward and impact the game higher up the field. This coupled with her physical capabilities to do so, make her a very exciting asset for us,” Head Coach Mike Norris said.
Hey STF writers: there seems to be an ever-growing disparity between the coverage vs engagement as between the Timbers and Thorns. In the past week, a half dozen articles [edit: actually 7] about the Timbers are posted, and their engagement, at least in terms of comments [edit: 128 total], pales in comparison to the last post about the Thorns- this one- a week ago [edit: just shy of 400 comments]. While STF is waxing on about Phil Neville, fans/readers on this side of the Footy Divide are doing extensive research on their own to try to figure out who is even actually on the gameday roster playing on the Thorns team right now.
Maybe it would be playing to your audience a little more effectively to increase the percentage of Thorns coverage on the site?
No one cares about looking at Montoya, show us the damn game lol
WHY is the inset the game and the interview the main screen?