Manchester City have announced the signing of 27-year-old midfielder Sam Mewis after she completed her NWSL Challenge Cup campaign with the North Carolina Courage.
Mewis has signed on a one-year deal with City with no news yet as to when the NWSL is set to restart.
Mewis is a three-time NWSL champion, having won with the Western New York Flash in 2016 and the North Carolina Courage in 2018 and 2019.
The news comes after The Athletic's Meg Linehan reported that Mewis had joined the Blues on the 23rd of July, with Rose Lavelle 'considering' an offer with Gareth Taylor's side.
Under FIFA rules, Manchester City will not be obliged to release any players for USWNT camps that take place outside of normal FIFA windows, a rule contrary to that of the NWSL.
Under normal circumstances and if the NWSL regular season was underway, as Lavelle and Mewis' contracts in the United States are with the USSF, there would be a transfer fee involved. However, because there are currently no games scheduled for the rest of the year, Mewis and Lavelle are both able to opt for the Barclays FA Women's Super League without a transfer fee.
High-level signings
This calibre of signing certainly fits into Gareth Taylor's ambitions to bring success to Manchester City. The Blues have not won the league since 2016 and have never progressed past the semi-finals of the UEFA Women's Champions League.
He made his ambitions for his time at the club clear when he was given the job as Head Coach:
“It’s now my job and responsibility to go and continue with the success the club has had in recent years. I’m really looking forward to that.
“We’re progressive. The club have been the flagbearers for the women’s game over the initial period of inauguration and we’re now looking to improve
“Improving means the domestic title – we’ve been successful once so far – first and foremost. Then, we’ll look at the competitions where we've been successful previously in the cups, and the Champions League is obviously something the club want to progress in.
“We’ve come close previously and it’s not going to be easy. In cup competitions, anything can happen on the day.
“That will be one of our aims: to look to progress in the Champions League and try and show some success in that competition.”
As well as the signing of Mewis and the rumoured signing of Rose Lavelle, Manchester City are looking like they will make a number of high-level signings this summer. Young striker Chloe Kelly has already joined from Everton, and according to reports from The Telegraph, both Lucy Bronze and Alex Greenwood also look to be on their way.
‘One of the best in the world’
Speaking about her move, Mewis said: “I'm so happy to have everything sorted. The opportunity came along at a really great time - as soon as I heard about the chance of coming to play for Manchester City, I was immediately interested.
“The Club is one of the best in the world and I've heard such good things about the women's side as a whole and the incredible facilities. I've followed the men's team too for a long time.
“This is a really cool, unique and amazing opportunity in my career and I'm so excited to come and see Manchester as a city, be a part of this incredible Club and hopefully help the team achieve their goals.”