The Chicago Red Stars acquired Mallory Pugh and Sarah Killion Woldmoe from Sky Blue FC in a trade for draft picks and international slots.
The trade is the second involving Pugh in 2020. In January, the Washington Spirit sent her to Sky Blue FC, where she ended up playing just one game in 2020 because of injuries and the cancellation of the full NWSL schedule.
At 22, Pugh has 63 caps for the USA but her star power has dipped since 2016 when she was a key figure on the U.S. Olympic team as a teenager.
Pugh, a reserve on the 2019 World Cup team, will join fellow world champions Julie Ertz, Alyssa Naeher, Morgan Gautrat and Tierna Davidson in Chicago.
Woldmoe spent six seasons with Sky Blue FC after attending UCLA.
Sky Blue FC got the fourth and eighth picks in the 2021 College Draft, a conditional first round pick in the 2022 College Draft and an international slot for 2021 and 2022.
Pugh had a serious right hamstring injury vs Korea, a knee knock against France–it’s possible the accumulated injuries are going to limit her potential from here on out. I also don’t see the creativity she used to have when she was younger, but perhaps that’s been ground down by the Nats program. She chose the NWSL for Nats reasons, in retrospect she could have followed a different path. Ironic if she no longer makes the USWNT now that’s some of the older warhorses are aging out.
Either the college talent in 2021 is weak and the Red Stars thinking is that establish players are more valuable to a title run this year, or like other Chicago GMs who play at Soldier Field, there is something in the lake water at SF that makes them overpay with draft picks and other player capital for players that they prefer. (Or Both).