On January 14th, the North Carolina Courage acquired Jaedyn Shaw from the San Diego Wave. The Courage touted her as an “international rising star”.

When Shaw was traded to North Carolina, it came at the end of a transfer request that was handed in nearly a year prior. In the new NWSL CBA, players have to approve all transfers, and Shaw had mentioned an attraction to North Carolina’s possession style, implemented under Sean Nahas. Nahas mentioned familiarity with Shaw from some work he had done with youth national teams in the past.

Shaw herself said:

“I am so grateful to be here and to call North Carolina home. I’m excited to experience a new style of play and to learn and grow alongside amazing players and coaches. I can’t wait to get to work and help bring another championship to Courage Country"

Less than nine months later, the Courage ended the Shaw era in NC, transferring her to Gotham FC for $1.25m in intra-league transfer fees.

What went wrong? Why didn’t Shaw fit in North Carolina, and why was the decision made to move her on? Let’s dive into the timeline for the last nine months.

Data courtesy of American Soccer Analysis, and visualizations courtesy of Catalina Bush’s ASA VisHub.

A question, and no early answers #

On the initial acquisition, then-head-coach Sean Nahas said:

She is someone who has every tool at such a young age and will be a key part of our club. Her quality on the ball, both in possession and on the dribble, along with her levels in and around the box can unlock opposition.

Many comments at the time asked how the Courage planned to utilize Shaw alongside Ashley Sanchez. Sanchez led the Courage in 2024 in goals, assists, expected goals, and expected assists from the top of the midfield in the Courage’s 4-3-3 system. Nahas, in pre-season, noted that he was thinking in terms of spaces more than positions, and that he was thinking of some “fun” ideas.

Early on, the Courage would attempt positioning from their existing 4-3-3, usually with Shaw in the center, and Sanchez wide right. (Sometimes they’d switch). While it was a way to get them both on the field, neither was particularly effective. André Carlisle called out a particularly bad game in week 4.

With Jaedyn Shaw and Ashley Sanchez in your lineup it should be illegal to play an NWSL game in which your team goes without a shot from the 28th minute to the 94th. I don’t care if Mercury is in microwave and Godzilla rises from Earth’s core at halftime, that should never ever happen. Ever. Once more: ever.

The weight of expectations #

Shaw talked to ESPN about the expectations weighing on her.

"I think, at least, recently I've struggled a little bit with just the expectation of being traded into a new environment. And now it's an environment where it suits you and you suit it and you're going to be impactful and it's going to be great and all this stuff. And when it's not, it's just like 'whoa, what happened?" ... "So I think that's kind of recently what I've been noticing about myself and the way that I've kind of been viewing the last however many three games and just in preseason and things like that with my performance. And I think that overcoming that, I'm still kind of working through it, but I think for me, just grounding myself and being like 'your team believes in you and you're in an environment where you're allowed to make mistakes.' So just letting those expectations go. And if you can't let it go, then turn it into something positive."

Meanwhile, Nahas himself mentioned some difficulties in a discussion with the Athletic:

It's a hard system to come in and play because of the level of detail I think the thing that she's adapting to the most is the style of training. ... I've actually even said, I think we've got to stop doing so much with her in terms of interviews and such, just let her settle in.

On the system, and the training #

Nahas’s system is a possession-at-all-costs, slow build, as shown in this chart from 2024. This stems from both from Nahas’s own philosophy (he is a Pep Guardiola disciple), and possession-as-defense (the Courage are not, overall, strong at core defending).

Nahas himself is stubborn about this; he spoke frequently about wanting to win his way, and how the Courage should not waver from their principles.

Nahas prefers to run a 4-3-3, with the center forward dropping into possession as a false 9. The build leans to the right, building through Ryan Williams driving forward (with the left back tucking into midfield). The forward push is through the wings, via players such as Tyler Lussi, Aline Gomes, and most successfully Kerolin.

As for adapting to the style of training, defender and vice-captain Kaleigh Kurtz noted the Courage’s culture and reputation in the league in a recent press conference captured by the Lion’s Pitch.

I think when people talk about the Courage and they come into the club, they know that we are one of the fittest teams. It's something that kind of scares them when they come in, but that's also something that they want to do with their career ­ they want to come in and they want to be challenged, and they're going to be in this environment. We lift heavy, we run a lot, and we do a really challenging style of play... the rumor around the league is that we are here to work, and that we're going to have the highest meters no matter what.

This training culture dates to the days of Paul Riley and their then very aggressive, pressing, 4-2-2-2 system. While it is not clear that this level of fitness specifically assists a slower, possession, system, it persists in the team culture.

Shaw has extensive experience in the youth and full national teams, which is known to be an even higher pressure, higher intensity training environment, so it is unlikely the Courage environment was that surprising to her. But it is notable that it was mentioned by Nahas.

A tactical adjustment #

In trying to figure out a better fit, the Courage adjusted their formation and their strategy. A new 3-4-2-1 formation along with adjusted roles was used, with some key changes:

• Rather than attacking wingers, Ryan Williams and one of Feli Rauch or Tyler Lussi would operate as wingbacks
• Two, more centralized, attacking midfielders

The Courage unveiled this formation against the league leaders Kansas City Current, and had a come-from-behind, 3-2 win. However, that comeback came after Shaw had been subbed out.

Shaw then came off the bench for the next two matches as the Courage picked up four points, but only shared the field with Sanchez for a total of 23 minutes.

And then Manaka happened.

A 20-year old levels up. No, the other one #

The Courage acquired Manaka Matsukubo in mid-2023, whereupon she scored a lightning volley in the Challenge Cup final. In 2024, she played mostly as a false 9, splitting time with Brianna Pinto. She had interesting moments, but wasn’t particularly effective beyond some passing metrics.

Notably, she dropped so deep that she was off-the-charts on penalty area touches (in a bad way).

In 2025 the Courage took a note from her dropping so deep. They experimented with pulling Manaka deeper, either onto an in-tucking left-wing, or directly into center midfield.

In 2025, her production has exploded. Over a five game period ending June 21st, Manaka had 4 goals and three assists, becoming the second youngest player, behind Trinity Rodman, to have goal contributions in five straight games. Over those five games, the Courage out-produced their opponents 2.2-1.2 in xG, winning three. (The less said about the defending in the San Diego game, the better).

North Carolina now didn’t have two star players that wanted to occupy the same space on the field. They had three.

A shock coaching change #

Nahas missed the last three of those five games, due to a medical issue. Nathan Thackeray filled in as head coach, with Shaw coming off the bench in all three (and helping spark the win against Houston).

Nahas returned as coach as the Courage returned from the summer break. The Courage had one of their worst games of the season against San Diego. Shaw came off the bench again, subbing in for Sanchez in the 70th minute, but neither made any notable impact.

The next week, one day before traveling to a road game against Houston, Nahas was suddenly fired. We still don’t really know which of the multitude of factors was the key one that triggered the firing, although you wonder if the suddenness indicates something as mundane as a strident argument with team executives that Nahas ended up on the wrong side of. Thackeray took over as acting head coach.

“We all found out Wednesday. We all got phone calls, and that’s how we found out. There (were) obviously some different reactions”, said captain Denise O’Sullivan in a post-match press conference.

Team performances suffer #

Rather than the apocryphal dead cat bounce, the Courage’s performances got worse.

Over the next five games, the Courage drew three and lost two. Manaka became a fixture in the lineup at attacking midfield, while Shaw and Sanchez mostly swapped for each other.

In the final game of the stretch, due to injuries to O’Sullivan and Riley Jackson, Shaw played the full game as one of the Courage’s two deep-lying midfielders. While Shaw is strong in possession and progressing the ball via passing, North Carolina’s structure between defense and midfield struggled without their normal midfield, and they gave up over 3 xG to a normally anemic Utah offense in a 1-1 draw, during which Shaw converting a penalty.

An offer, and a decision point #

In an appearance on the Athletic’s Full Time podcast, Gotham FC general manager Yael Averbuch noted that “Shaw is a player we’ve tracked for a really long time”.

Averbuch clearly states that they needed to agree to terms with North Carolina before speaking to Shaw ; while I’m sure no team would admit to tampering, we will take her at her word. She noted that they would “have to show that we were really really serious” to even get to a discussion point."

The Courage had no general manager at the time of Shaw’s acquisition, as Curt Johnson had left the month prior. Now, new general manager, Dr. Ceri Bowley had a decision to make, and he had to look at all the factors.

Shaw’s fit with the coaching situation #

When Shaw joined, she and Nahas noted familiarity with each other, and Nahas strongly defended letting Shaw settle in at her own pace, and not worry about results. Now Nahas was gone and there was no timeline for a new head coach. In her last game, she was played deep, and she has noted in the past that she prefers the number 10 role.

It’s possible that Shaw was not happy with the team’s current acting coaches and her current place in the team, although I have seen no indications that she actually requested a move.

Shaw’s fit and performance in the team structure #

The Courage now had three attacking midfielders for at most two spots. While Sanchez can play on the right, there is not a well structured formation that has two central attacking midfielders and a right wing. While Shaw can (and did) play deeper, that implies in a normal situation dropping one of O’Sullivan (the captain) or Jackson (a 19-year-old that the team has invested in) to the bench.

As for their performance in attacking midfield, Shaw was so far this year the worst performer of the three.

While still very productive, she ranked the lowest of the three in producing quality chances from passing, behind Manaka in shooting contributions, and well behind both Sanchez and Manaka in dribbling progression. While she averaged more progressive passes per 90 than either Sanchez or Manaka, that is likely misleading as a chunk of her progressive passes are just corners, and her overall passing score by ASA’s metrics is the lowest of the three.

Shaw’s strengths and how they fit with the roster going forwards #

Shaw has a number of strengths, but her strongest contributions to offense are from:

• making aggressive, key, passes forward to unlock the defense
• crashing the box late to take high quality shots from the penalty area

If the Courage are playing a 3-4-2-1, there are limited opportunities for that aggressive final ball from midfield. Neither other midfielder will be ahead of her - Manaka is a connector, driving the attack through passing, while Sanchez offers passing and unpredictable dribbling. Neither wingback is likely to be ahead of the midfield.

That leaves the forwards. Brianna Pinto is a false 9 who specializes in holding up balls to her feet and distributing, along with making those very same late runs for high value chances. Hannah Betfort is a more traditional target forward. Cortnee Vine is the only forward on the roster who is likely to hang on the defender’s shoulders to make that run in behind.

In the Courage’s prior 4-3-3, there may be more runners such as Aline, but that still leaves a question of what to do with Manaka and Sanchez as well.

Financial reality #

From a budgeting and team building perspective, it does not make sense to pour significant resources into all three of Manaka, Sanchez, and Shaw with only two ever playing at once.

US women’s national team players come with increased prestige and marketability that directly drives up their transfer value. A player such as Shaw will always command more on the US (and even international) transfer market than a player like Manaka.

As for Sanchez, Shaw is both six years younger and has more recent USWNT experience. I don’t know what Sanchez’s value is on the open market, but I suspect it would be less than half of what was offered for Shaw.

The transfer is made #

Given those multitude of factors (sorry) (maybe not), it’s not surprising that the Courage would accept a league record transfer fee that rivals the most ever paid for a US player. The opportunity to remake their squad in a more balanced fashion going forwards is too good business to pass up, when the team structure is already not working. $1.25m buys not just one, but twenty Payton Linnehans, for example.

However, doing so makes it imperative that they keep Manaka and Sanchez employed, paid, and happy, as it is only their presence that made this transfer of Shaw make sense.

Unanswered questions #

Looking back on Shaw’s entire time in North Carolina, there are still unanswered questions in my mind.

Why was the original transfer done to begin with? #

Sanchez was a known quantity in NC. The Courage must have known they were moving Manaka more towards midfield by signing Betfort just days later. So, other than “to sign a marquee player”, why create this logjam to begin with?

As noted above, Shaw’s strengths do not map neatly to the Courage’s preferred system under Nahas, nor to the attacking personnel she would be feeding to. Why did the Courage not adjust both tactically (to provide Shaw with more forward runners to find) and in recruiting (to bring in forwards that would occupy those spaces)?

It is worth remembering that the Courage had no general manager at the time, and were looking to replace an exiting star in Kerolin. There is something to be said for “if you have the opportunity to get Jaedyn Shaw, get Jaedyn Shaw and figure the rest out later” (Gotham would agree). But the roster and structural logjams still seem like they could have been predicted.

Why was there not more effort to get all their stars working together? #

Even after Manaka’s level-up, the Courage never really tried to get all three on the field together for a significant period of time. Even placing Shaw as the false 9 in the formation is an option that could have been attempted, but was barely tried.

How does this affect the Courage going forward? #

As stated, I have no evidence that Shaw was reportedly unhappy, or requested this transfer. But the on-field failure of such a high-profile signing could affect the Courage as they both try to retain their own free agents (they have ten this year alone), as well as attract new signings.

They now have money, albeit in a not-currently known installment plan. Can they attract the right caliber of players to upgrade the squad?

Moving forward without Shaw #

It’s just one game, but rather than waving the white flag as some clown suggested, the Courage were energized and active.

Manaka had a highlight reel finish, and new signing Linnehan had two key passes leading to goals as the Courage won their first game since June. They have returned to one point from the playoff cutoff line, and play all three teams directly above them in their final six games.