North Carolina Courage acquires Canadian midfielder Victoria Pickett from Gotham FC
For the second time in less than a year, Victoria Pickett is on the move within the NWSL, as she was traded from Gotham FC to the North Carolina Courage on Thursday.
After being acquired by Gotham from the Kansas City Current last August for $200 000 in allocation money and a first-round draft pick, it’s a big surprise to see her on the move already, having hardly settled in at the New Jersey-based club. Especially given that the club signed her to a contract extension through 2025 this past offseason, it makes this move especially surprising, too.
Yet, with Gotham sitting quite deep in terms of their midfield, they've decided to move on from Pickett, giving her a chance for a fresh start with North Carolina, who paid $200 000 in allocation money to acquire her services.
🚨 WELCOME TO COURAGE COUNTRY 🚨
— NC Courage (@TheNCCourage) April 27, 2023
The Courage have acquired midfielder Victoria Pickett from Gotham FC for $200K in allocation money.
🦁 2021 NWSL Rookie of the Year finalist
🦁 2x first team All-B1G honoree
🦁 45 career games in 2+ pro seasons
STORY: https://t.co/MPo0TmL9Rm pic.twitter.com/qDZU7kDzrQ
Having made nine appearances since arriving at Gotham, including just two this season, the 26-year-old heads to North Carolina eager to get back to the form she showed when she was at the Current, too, where she quickly burst onto the scene as a top draft pick in 2021.
There, she turned heads as she hit the ground running for her new club, finishing the year as a rookie of the year finalist, while also earning her first call-up to the Canadian Women’s National Team.
Now, she’ll look to recapture that form with the Courage, as they could certainly use it. Sitting 10th out of 12 teams in the NWSL, with just three goals for and six goals against in four games, they’ve been decent enough defensively, but need a big boost up front and in the middle.
In Pickett, they should get a strong tempo-controlling midfielder, who can also chip in offensively with goals and assists.
Over to some NWSL action, nice to see a huge match winner from Victoria Pickett to help her KC side pick up a massive road win vs a tough OL Reign side
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) August 15, 2021
There’s a reason why Pickett got a #CanWNT/#CanXNT call-up this year
One to watch for the fallpic.twitter.com/a4IdwSS0BH
From there, she’ll look to push back into the National Team fold, especially given Canada’s need for more midfielders long-term. She’ll be in tough in a battle for a World Cup spot this summer, but certainly could dream of making an Olympic squad for 2024, and is still young enough to be around by the time the next World Cup cycle comes around in 2027.
Starting with a strong run of form at the club level, she’ll hope it all falls into place for her, helping her hit the reset button after not finding that opportunity with Gotham.
Pickett is now the second Canadian on this Courage squad, as Canadian dual-national defender Sydney Collins is also on the team, making the Courage a team to keep an eye on from a Canadian perspective. Collins has impressed so far, too, having recently made her professional debut, as well as her Canadian international debut not long after, so look for the pair to try and find their feet in this squad together. 
