According to Meg Linehan at The Athletic, Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett are both in "advanced discussions" to sign with Gotham FC ahead of the 2024 NWSL season. No paperwork had been signed as of Monday evening, however, according to The Athletic's sources.
Both players – who featured in this year's women's World Cup with the United States – are unrestricted free agents, meaning they are free to talk to and sign with any NWSL team this offseason.
Gotham has also been linked to free agent Crystal Dunn. It would be surprising if Gotham had the allocation money or salary cap space available to sign all three players – although only time will tell.
Lavelle joined the Reign in May 2021 and was a key part of the Reign's NWSL Shield-winning season in 2022 – scoring five goals and being named to the NWSL Second XI. She was injured for most of 2023 but scored a goal in this year's NWSL championship match.
Sonnett joined the Reign this year after the Reign traded with the Washington Spirit. OL Reign head coach Laura Harvey moved her into the midfield, where she became one of the best holding midfielders in the league. Harvey said Sonnett called and asked her to make her the best No. 6 in the world when she wasn't getting minutes during the World Cup.
Reign GM Lesle Gallimore spoke about the club's interest in keeping all of their free agents after the NWSL Expansion Draft, which saw the Reign lose Alyssa Malonson and Elyse Bennett.
"We've got Emily and Rose and Nikki Stanton and Tziarra King, and those discussions have been ongoing," Gallimore confirmed. "And these have been long, long, ongoing discussions since the day I arrived in June. To be honest, the first half of the year before I was here, these discussions and negotiations with these players and their agents were ongoing all season – trying to be respectful of the season itself, the players themselves, the World Cup. Obviously, it's coming to crunch time, and what I can tell you is that we have done everything in our power to be able to sign our free agents. And the coming days, I believe time will tell what the decision is and we're hopeful."
The NWSL transaction window opened on Saturday morning after the NWSL Expansion Draft and will remain open until this Friday, Dec. 22, at 3 p.m. PT. At that point, the window will close for a week through the holiday, reopening again on Dec. 29.
