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Portland Thorns midfielder and captain Sam Coffey will leave the States to join England’s Manchester City, the Thorns announced this morning.
Multiple outlets reported that Manchester City offered Coffey a contract of over $800,000, with potential additions based on her performance. It’s not clear if the Thorns couldn’t match that offer or if the allure of English soccer was too great.
“While the Thorns organization did everything it could to keep Sam in Portland, we thought it was important to support her ambitions,” Portland general manager Jeff Agoos said in the club’s release. “We are grateful for her contributions and wish her success as she pursues her next opportunity.”
To put it simply: It sucks.
Coffey’s been a fundamental part of the Thorns since she joined the club in 2022. She helped the team to an NWSL Championship that year and established herself as a key playmaker and defensive presence in Portland’s midfield. She’s been a consistent starter in the years since and was named co-captain of the 2025 Thorns squad that finished the NWSL regular season in third place, despite its relative youth and player turnover in prior years.
On the international stage, Coffey has shown herself to be a world-class midfielder, helping the United States to an Olympic gold medal in 2024 amid her 42 appearances for her country.
And then there’s the things that don’t make it onto a scoresheet: her relentlessness and her commitment to leading Portland by putting her best foot forward every time she stepped on the field.
Regardless of who steps up to fill Coffey’s place in defensive midfield—whether that’s the fresh-out-of-college signing, Shae Harvey, someone on the Thorns shifting to a different position, or a yet to be revealed signing—they’ll have a huge role to take on.
Portland’s 2025 squad showed they can overcome almost any obstacle, and extending forward Sophia Wilson through 2026 (on a NWSL-record $1 million player option) and returning players like Morgan Weaver, Caiya Hanks and Marie Müller should only help them build on last year’s results. But with two of their core midfielders departing in the past few months (Coffey and Hina Sugita, who was traded to Angel City in September 2025) and with the head coaching position still open, the club’s course of action is still anyone’s guess.
