The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team, Washington Spirit, have announced the signing of England international Esme Morgan over from Barclays Women’s Super League giants in Manchester City.

As previously reported by The Halfway Line, Morgan announced her departure from her childhood club at the end of the 2023/24 season. The versatile defender made 87 senior appearances for the club, after joining the academy 9 years ago.

She joins the American side on a four year deal, seeing her in DC through to the end of 2027 season. She is eligible to join the side after the end of the next international window, on July 15th. Likewise, the Spirit have confirmed a fee will be paid to Manchester City for the defender.

In her first interview for the Spirit, Morgan said:

“I wanted to join the Spirit because they have the ambition and tools to be the best team in the NWSL, and trying to achieve that will be a great but enjoyable challenge.”

Whilst she will not join the side until after the end of La Liga’s season this weekend, Morgan marks the first official signing of the Jonatan Giráldez era at Washington Spirit, when he swaps Barcelona for Washington DC this summer. Speaking about her manager to be, Morgan told the Spirit:

“On an individual level too, the opportunity to work under Jonatan [Giráldez], one of the world’s best coaches, is really exciting and I look forward to learning from him and pushing myself to become the best player I can be, hopefully helping the team to success.”

This news means Morgan will be available to meet familiar foe in Arsenal, when the North London team travel to Washington to play the Americans in a pre-season friendly in August.