Sources: Chelsea’s Fleming set for NWSL switch
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Tom Hamilton, Senior Writer
Canada and Chelsea midfielder Jessie Fleming is set to join NWSL side Portland Thorns, sources have told ESPN.
Portland Thorns are understood to be paying a NWSL record transfer fee for Fleming, believed to be in the region of £250,000 ($320,000). The news was first reported by the Telegraph, with Fleming, 25, leaving Chelsea on Monday.
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Chelsea are looking at Levante’s Mayra Ramírez as an option to help fill the void left by the injured Sam Kerr and Fleming’s departure and the transfer fee will help that move.
Fleming — who scored for Canada in the 2021 Olympics women’s final — joined Chelsea in 2020 and won three Women’s Super League titles at the club alongside three FA Cups and the Conti Cup in 2021.
The Thorns squad received a further boost, with United States women’s national team defender Becky Sauerbrunn signing a one year contract extension through to the upcoming season on Tuesday.
Sauerbrunn, who was part of the USWNT World Cup winning squads in 2015 and 2019, has played for the Thorns for the past four seasons and won the NWSL with them in 2022.
