Defending NWSL champions Gotham FC are finalizing a deal to sign veteran midfielder Denise O’Sullivan on loan with an obligation to transfer from Liverpool, a source with knowledge of the deal told ESPN.
O’Sullivan is expected to join Gotham immediately upon the opening of the NWSL’s transfer window on Monday and would be available for Wednesday’s match at Citi Field in Queens against the Washington Spirit, a rematch of the 2025 NWSL Championship.
The deal between the clubs, however, still needs to be signed. Gotham would eventually pay Liverpool €350,000 — the same the Liverpool paid the North Carolina Courage in January to sign O’Sullivan.
A deal for O’Sullivan would bring the Ireland international midfielder to Gotham on an initial one-year loan with an obligation to buy her contract, the source said.
O’Sullivan’s contract would run through the 2029 NWSL season with an option for 2030.
The structure of O’Sullivan’s deal as an initial loan is almost certainly a means of balancing the books for Gotham, who recently signed all-time NWSL scorer Sam Kerr on a free transfer from Chelsea.
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The team applied allocation money to offset Kerr’s salary. Gotham also recently re-signed defender Emily Sonnett using the NWSL’s new High Impact Player rule, which offset Sonnett’s cap hit.
Still, Gotham is operating at the very maximum of the salary cap (plus the additional $1 million in HIP funds).
Signing a player on loan helps offset some of the cap hit.
O’Sullivan, 32, is a seasoned veteran in the NWSL who won five major trophies with the North Carolina Courage.
She was a core part of the Courage dynasty that won the double — NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship — in both 2018 and 2019.
The Courage also won the 2017 NWSL Shield and the 2018 International Champions Cup, defeating Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon.
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O’Sullivan’s return to the NWSL comes soon after her departure. Liverpool signed O’Sullivan in January via transfer from the Courage.
O’Sullivan spoke at the time of her excitement to join a big club like Liverpool, and to be closer to her family in Ireland.
However, she joined a Liverpool team that struggled throughout the year.
Liverpool finished one place above the bottom (the only team relegated) of England‘s Women’s Super League, winning four games and collecting 17 points from 22 matches.
The January move ended O’Sullivan’s time with the Courage after nearly a decade.
She is North Carolina’s leader in appearances with 186 across all competitions.
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O’Sullivan also helped the Courage win NWSL Challenge Cup titles in 2022 and 2023, and took over captaincy in 2023.
She was famously acquired by the club off waivers in the summer of 2017 after the Houston Dash cut ties with her.
O’Sullivan joined Houston in 2016 after a successful run with Glasgow City in Scotland.
O’Sullivan has the most international caps of any active Ireland player and occasionally wears the captain’s armband for her country.
She was part of the Ireland team that played at the Women’s World Cup for the first time in 2023.
