Portland Thorns Sign Australian GK Mackenzie Arnold
The Portland Thorns have made their first move of the summer, acquiring Australian star goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold!
In the first move of an expected busy summer, the Portland Thorns have announced the signing of Australian Mackenzie Arnold through the 2026 season with a mutual option for 2027. The 2023 FIFA Best Goalkeeper finalist is set to join following the 2024 Summer Olympics. She is eligible for play once the secondary-transfer window opens, pending receipt of her ITC and P-1 visa.
“Since the beginning, this Club has prioritized competition across all our positions, aiming to create teams that can compete each and every year at the highest level and win championships,” GM and President of Soccer Operations Karina LeBlanc said. “Mackenzie is someone we identified earlier this year as a player that could help elevate our goalkeeper group. She is a highly decorated international goalkeeper, with experience on the world’s biggest stages. We believe her addition will make our goalkeeper unit stronger, our team better and help us achieve our championship winning goals.”
At the 2023 World Cup she led her home country to their first ever semi-final berth, where she made four saves in the penalty shootout against France in the quarter-final. Additionally, Arnold led the entire Women’s World Cup with four clean sheets throughout the tournament, earning shutouts over Republic of Ireland, Canada, Denmark and France.
Since making her Australia National Team debut in 2012, Arnold has 49 appearances for her country. She will be the a massive key for the Matildas at the Olympic Games this summer in France.
Most recently, she played for West Ham United of the FA Women’s Super League and made more than 75 appearances in all competitions. In her fourth and last season with the club, she was named team captain and 2024 Women’s Hammer of the year.
As the starter for the Matildas, she is now expected to be the starter in Portland.
The Portland Thorns now have (uses fingers to count), six goalkeepers on the team: Mackenzie Arnold, Shelby Hogan, Emily Alvarado, Lauren Kozal, Katherine Asman, and HOMETOWN HERO and SUPERMOM, Bella Bixby.
The imbalance will be looked at now, as confusion, and rightfully so. However, the club is expectec to make more moves this summer to try to get into the top tier of contenders with Orlando Pride and Kansas City Current.
Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal have made it clear where they envision the team and this summer will be a busy one for them.
Before more moves are announced, I do want to highlight the human aspect in all of this: Karina LeBlanc has a ton of work balancing out the roster and unfortunately the worst side of sports is the players who will get traded or released to make it happen.
For those players the uncertainty or having to uproot their lives to a brand new city is extremely difficult. In a week where they should be enjoying time off, many will be worried about what’s next for them.
Maybe the club wants to make it sound good about "putting her in the mix for competition at GK" but signing an international GK to a long term contract to not be your #1 would be kind of dumb. Although, then again, so is carrying 6 keepers on a 26-person roster whose biggest glaring deficits are wingers that can score, and centerbacks that can command the back line.
Breaking: Portland Thorns have signed GK's Sarah Bouhaddi, Sabrina D'Angelo, and Noelia Bermúdez as NTRP's for the coming summer cup.