Carli Lloyd sure won’t feel lonely overseas.
The two-time FIFA player of the year officially joined Manchester City on a short-term deal Wednesday. The contract allows her to return to the Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) on June 1, less than halfway through the team’s regular-season schedule.
Lloyd’s stunning decision bookends the recent departures of US women’s national team stars Alex Morgan to Olympique Lyonnais of France and Crystal Dunn to Chelsea. Heather O’Reilly, who retired from the national team in September, also left for Europe, signing with Arsenal last month.
Lloyd, 34, has played sparingly in her two seasons with the Dash due to a knee injury and national team commitments: the 2015 Women’s World Cup, which vaulted the co-captain into player-of-the-year contention with her three-goal performance against Japan in the final, and the 2016 Rio Olympics.
With Manchester City, the reigning FA Women’s Super League champion, Lloyd will gain exposure to competitive Champions League play and play alongside and against top internationals. Lloyd and Morgan could meet in the women’s Champions League semifinals if each side wins its quarterfinal in March.
With Lloyd absent for the start of the NWSL season, the longest-standing American women’s soccer league loses another big name in a crucial year for growth. The NWSL relocated the Western New York Flash to soccer hotbed North Carolina in January and announced a TV partnership with A&E Networks at the start of February.