Houston Dash sign Ebony Salmon for club record trade fee

It's the beginning of another breathless week for the Houston Dash.

On Monday morning, the Texas NWSL club announced it had completed a trade for Racing Louisville forward Ebony Salmon. The total fee involved in the transaction for the 21-year-old is a new record for the Dash.

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The transaction will see Houston send $150,000 of allocation money to Louisville in 2022, with an additional $25,000 being sent to the Kentucky club in 2023. There is also $15,000 of performance-based incentives attached for the 2022 season. That means the total fee will be $175,000 at the very least with a maximum potential value of $190,000. 

Originally from Birmingham, England, Salmon came through the Aston Villa academy and made her first-team debut in 2017 at the age of just 16. She scored seven goals in 12 matches during her debut season in the FA Women's Championship. Salmon then moved to Manchester United in 2018, but was unable to break into Casey Stoney's title-winning team. She would go on spend the second half of the 2018-19 season on loan at Sheffield United, where she continued to thrive as a goalscorer. Salmon put away seven goals in nine matches for the Blades during her loan spell.

In 2019, Salmon secured a move to play for Bristol City in the FA Women's Super League, the top division in English women's soccer. She quickly became a talisman for the division strugglers. Across two seasons, she scored 11 goals in 34 appearances and reached the 2021 League Cup final with the Robins.

After Bristol were relegated at the end of the 2020-21 season, Salmon hopped across the Atlantic and signed for Louisville in May 2021. There, she led the Kentucky team in goals with six during her debut season in the NWSL and notched two assists. Salmon's average of a goal every 206 minutes for Racing ranked sixth in the NWSL for players over 1,000 minutes in that category during the 2021 season. 

Despite an impressive debut season in the NWSL, Salmon accumulated just 75 minutes across five substitute appearances during the 2022 season. Louisville is currently led by head coach Kim Björkegren, the third head coach since Salmon arrived at the club.

Why bring in Salmon now? 

Salmon becomes the first player signed since Juan Carlos Amorós officially became the interim head coach of the Dash. The Striker understands that Amorós and assistant general manager Carlos Martinez-Gloria were pivotal in making this midseason trade for Salmon happen.

The main reason for the Dash being anxious to get Salmon into the club is due to need. With multiple FIFA international tournaments occurring this summer, Houston's most elite attacking options are all set to miss significant time on the pitch. 

Rachel Daly could be away until mid-August with England at the UEFA Euros. Nichelle Prince and Maria Sánchez will both be away with Canada and Mexico, respectively, until the end of July at the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers. Michaela Abam (Cameroon) and Michelle Alozie (Nigeria) are also not expected to be available to play in the NWSL again until late July. 

Salmon helps fill this void. In the short term, she walks into a team where she is immediately the most accomplished forward.

In the long-term, Salmon will have to compete to earn her place in the Houston team. But the fact that the Dash exchanged such a sizable fee for her services and have already signed her to an extension shows they expect her to be around for awhile. They'll need her in order to finally get over the hump and make the NWSL playoffs for the first time in its history.

Is $190,000 a high price? 

Sometimes trying to understand the economy of the NWSL is a fool's errand. The fee the Dash paid for Salmon is, undoubtedly, an eye-catching amount of money and a record for the Texas NWSL club. It's only $10,000 less than Gotham FC paid for Kristie Mewis back in December 2021, which is a top-tier NWSL transfer fee.

But Salmon is well worth the price paid and perhaps even more. After all, there are few players that can combine her combination of experience, talent and potential. At just 21, Salmon already has completed five seasons as a professional first-team player and, perhaps even more impressively, has led her team for goals at almost all of those clubs. 

Of course, the price the Dash paid does not feel like a bargain, either. There is an argument to be made that with Salmon out of favor at Louisville and with just four months left on her contract, there was plenty of room for Houston to negotiate. They likely could have gotten Salmon for cheaper towards the end of the NWSL transfer window in August. 

Perhaps the true evaluation of the Salmon transfer will ultimately come down to if the Dash make the playoffs. If she can be an instant contributor, and help Houston during the summer months, then it will be mission accomplished with few complaints from the PNC faithful. 

Salmon will be available to make her debut for Houston at this Friday's match between the Dash and the Kansas City Current in Houston.