The Washington Spirit have signed 18-year-old Paraguayan ahead Claudia Martínez from Membership Olimpia for a $950,000 switch price, a supply with information of the deal instructed ESPN.
The price, which additionally features a sell-on price as a consequence of Olimpia for any future switch, ranks among the many high 10 in girls’s soccer historical past up to now.
Martínez, who turned 18 years previous final week, dazzled for Paraguay on the youth worldwide ranges earlier than becoming a member of the senior group. She is the primary Paraguayan participant in NWSL historical past.
ABC Shade 730 AM in Paraguay first reported the information.
Olimpia introduced a brand new long-term contract for Martínez in December, which reportedly included a “multi-million-dollar termination clause,” however sources confirmed to ESPN that the clause shouldn’t be associated to the switch, and the $950,000 (with a sell-on price) is the total extent of the transaction.
Even for contracts that characteristic launch clauses, it isn’t unusual in soccer for transfers to be agreed to and accomplished at charges under these thresholds, which regularly function triggers relatively than minimal thresholds.
Final 12 months, she was the co-leading scorer on the Copa América Femenina in her senior match debut. She scored a hat trick towards Bolivia and added objectives towards Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela later within the match.
Martínez will be part of the NWSL facet on a contract by way of 2028, with a group choice for 2029.
Crucially, because of the NWSL’s guidelines governing annual internet switch thresholds, the $950,000 shall be damaged up into two funds from the Spirit to Olimpia, a supply confirmed to ESPN: $500,000 this 12 months and $450,000 subsequent 12 months.
The NWSL’s internet switch threshold governs how a lot every group can spend in transfers annually, very similar to the wage cap restricts how a lot groups pays gamers.
The web switch threshold is because of rise 10% annually in the course of the present NWSL collective bargaining settlement, which suggests a threshold of $605,000 for every group in 2026. Web charges paid by a group over the brink incur a 25% cost on the wage cap.
In easy phrases, if a group spends $500,000 on a participant and transfers out a participant for $400,000, for instance, their internet threshold is $100,000.
Previous to her Copa América breakout, Martínez led Paraguay to its first U17 CONMEBOL title, main the competitors with 10 objectives.
She joins a Spirit group that has completed runners-up for each the NWSL Protect and the playoffs every of the previous two seasons.
