That’s right, the shenanigans NWSL woso communities have feared has finally happened. Y. Michele Kang, majority owner of Washington Spirit and Lyon, has loaned a player from one club to the other. In the panicked versions of these scenarios that were dreamed up, the Spirit were loading up on Lyon’s stars like Wendie Renard, Melchie Dumornay, Ada Hegerberg, or Dzsenifer Marozsán – who’s played in the league before after being loaned to then-OL Reign by then-co owners of Lyon.

Instead, the Spirit have brought in 21-year-old defender, Kysha Sylla, on a one-year deal.

Kang’s multi-club ownership approach forced the NWSL to enact guidelines about player movement between clubs with a shared owner, called Related Party Transactions. Among other things, the rules state that there must not be an ‘exclusivity agreement’ between clubs, the number of players loaned in or out cannot exceed three, and implement strict salary cap ramifications. For instance, if Sylla’s salary is being paid by Lyon, the full amount will count against the Spirit’s cap. If the Spirit are adding to her salary, Lyon’s portion plus whatever the Spirit add will count against the cap.

Given all this, it’s somewhat surprising to see that a loan between the clubs has actually happened. But Sylla fills a need for the Spirit, and Lyon’s recent signing of Tarciane pushed Sylla further down the depth chart.

Sylla was playing with a local boys team when she was just 10-years-old, and eventually signed with Lyon’s academy in 2019. Though she signed her first professional contract with Lyon in 2021, and spent the 22/23 season on loan at Dijon FCO, she has not yet played a decent amount of minutes at a professional level. FBref numbers can miss a domestic competition or two at times, but according to their count Sylla has yet to crack 1,000 minutes on the pitch in her professional career. Internationally, she’s played with France’s U19, U20 and U23 teams, though her appearances have slowly declined as she’s moved up from the U19 level.

None of this is meant to disparage Sylla, who is still an exciting young talent that Lyon clearly wants to keep hold of, as they extended her contract until 2027 before finalizing her loan to the Spirit. However, this is to say that this seems to be a player who needs to find consistent minutes, and it remains to be seen if the Spirit are the right club for that.

With only two recognized center backs (so far), and the Spirit likely adding the CONCACAF W Champions Cup games to their calendar this summer, depth at the position was a must. Sylla certainly checks that box, but if rumors are true the Spirit may also be bringing in Rebeca Bernal, which would likely push Sylla to fourth choice center back.

There’s also the question of roster construction. Sylla will require an international spot, which the Spirit would be fresh out of as soon as Ouleye Sarr shifts off the season ending injury (SEI) list. That’s the simpler problem to fix, as the Spirit could make a trade with a team to acquire an additional international spot, just as they did to bring in goalkeeper Sandy MacIver.

The more curious piece is the squad size overall. At the moment the Spirit are pretty tapped out in terms of available roster spaces. There is the caveat that we have yet to see the final details of the new CBA signed last summer, but none of the drips of new information suggest that rosters have expanded. Spotrac currently has the Spirit’s active roster at 23 players, with five (Sullivan, Bethune, Sarr, Gaines-Ramos and Jessee [née Bosselmann]) on the SEI list. In his first media availability of the season head coach Jona Giráldez gave hopeful updates on Rodman, Sarr and Bethune. Bumping those three to the active roster would immediately place the Spirit at the max roster size of 26 players.

We’re only in the first week of February and rosters don’t need to be whittled down until days before the start of the regular season, March 14, so several things can (and surely need to) happen. For now the Spirit have addressed their most immediate concern of center back depth. With Annaïg Butel back in France and Tara McKeown doing an Ironwoman year in 2024 – playing every available minute – it was imperative to add players to that position group. Sylla certainly has promise, and hopefully the setup and coaching she’ll receive in DC will help her show more of her potential when given the opportunity.

Welcome to the Spirits, Kysha!

Image courtesy of the Washington Spirit.