The Houston Dash have traded María Sánchez to the San Diego Wave for an undisclosed return.
Earlier this week, Sánchez publicly stated on her social media that she had requested a trade in late March. The NWSL trade window closes on April 19 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
A source briefed on the transaction said that there was more than one offer for Sánchez’s rights. According to a report by Theo Lloyd-Hughes at Pro Soccer Wire, Houston will receive a transfer fee but no players from the Wave.
Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kindness and support. pic.twitter.com/gcnN7dhCJU
— Maria Sanchez (@Maria17_7) April 19, 2024
Sánchez signed a blockbuster $1.5 million contract with the Dash in December 2023 that was supposed to keep her in Houston through 2026, with an option to extend through 2027. But after four games with the Dash in which Sánchez played 348 minutes, generating one assist and two shots, she will leave for the Wave, who are currently in seventh place and were last year’s NWSL Shield winners.
Sánchez’s contract is technically with the league, so the Wave must take on the remainder of that $1.5M contract, which counts total compensation including bonuses and an exercised fourth-year option.
Sánchez has played as a left winger for the Dash with varying degrees of success. The team has gone through five head coaches since the beginning of Sánchez’s initial loan to the team from Tigres in June 2021. Under current Dash head coach Fran Alonso, Sánchez was shifted into a wingback role in a 3-5-2.
How will Sánchez fit in at the Wave?
If the Wave are paying such a hefty price tag for Sánchez, they might as well try to optimize her and play her in her winger role instead of pushing her deeper or asking her to drift centrally.
The Wave are currently playing Sofia Jakobsson, Savannah McCaskill, and Jaedyn Shaw underneath Alex Morgan, so that does require some tinkering to fit in a pure winger. It could mean a change in shape to push Shaw and McCaskill more centrally, an area where they’re both comfortable operating, or it could mean a benching for Jakobsson, or even asking McCaskill to drop deeper to allow Shaw to play the 10 and keep Sánchez wide.
Another consideration is that the Wave have been quite careful with Shaw’s minutes so far this season; Casey Stoney said in a Wave media call ahead of their game against the Orlando Pride that Shaw has been injured, which has also limited her minutes for the national team, which we saw during SheBelieves. With only months to go until the Olympics, the Wave – and the USWNT – will surely be handling Shaw’s progression as delicately as possible, which could call for better depth with the addition of an experienced player like Sánchez.
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