Bay FC signs USWNT midfielder Claire Hutton in $1.1 million deal with Kansas City Current

Bay FC has signed U.S. women’s national team midfielder Claire Hutton, the club confirmed to The Athletic. The 20-year-old joins the San Jose, Calif.-based side from the Kansas City Current in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

In exchange, the Current will receive $1.1 million in transfer fees, which is among the most expensive intra-league transfers in NWSL history.

“Throughout the process, I did consider going overseas,” Hutton told The Athletic in an exclusive interview ahead of the announcement. She spoke from her partially packed apartment in Kansas City, where she has spent her entire professional career, having signed with the reigning NWSL shield winners at 17 years old. Now, she’s ready to take the next step.

“I looked at some domestic clubs, and as I was going through it, talking to coaches, talking to sporting directors, GMs (general managers), Bay really struck me as a place that they were ready to build and wanted to create an identity for them that was known domestically, worldwide, and just something that I aligned with and stood for.”

Hutton is a crucial signing for Bay, marking a significant shift from a difficult second season in the NWSL and setting the tone for its latest phase. Despite a strong inaugural season that saw Bay FC reach the NWSL playoffs, last year the team struggled significantly, finishing in 13th in a 14-team league. Then-head coach Albertin Montoya announced his resignation last September. While Montoya was reviewed by the NWSL for possible violations of its discrimination and harassment policy, the league found no such violations, but said there were “shortcomings” in Montoya’s communication style.

Hutton brings a wealth of experience from club and country that transcends her age. Last year with the Current, she started 22 of the 25 regular-season games she appeared in. Her 153 duels won, 49 successful tackles and 170 possessions won each ranked among the top 10 in the NWSL, supporting her nomination for Midfielder of the Year last season, along with a spot on the NWSL Best XI list.

“She’s a top-quality player who is tight on the ball, and she has the mobility and physical presence to break up play,” Bay FC head coach Emma Coates said in a statement provided to The Athletic. “Despite her age, she brings experience and a strong mentality, and we believe she has the potential to become one of the best midfielders in the world. The most exciting part for us is her desire to keep getting better, and we’re excited to support her through the next stages of her career and even more excited to see the impact she will have at Bay FC.”

Coates joined Bay FC in December from her position as coach of the England under-23 national team, and was another significant factor in Hutton’s decision.

“I would just say a soccer geek, a soccer nerd, and I’m very similar,” Hutton said of Coates. “We were sitting at a table just going over tactics very simply, and she really wants to give players the power to make decisions, and players the power to demand and control the game. And I think that’s very important.”

It’s also a bold ethos to abide by in your first season in the NWSL as an English manager — but, as Hutton pointed out, “at the end of the day, if you don’t give your players the power to learn and to grow their soccer IQ and challenge them in those ways, they’re not going to learn.”

Coates wasn’t the only manager named Emma who played a hand in Hutton’s move. The Bethlehem, N.Y., native also leaned on USWNT coach Emma Hayes, as other national team players like Alyssa Thompson and Lindsey Heaps have done when considering big career moves.

Claire Hutton sought advice from her national team coach, Emma Hayes, before her move to Bay FC. (Brad Smith / Getty Images)

Hayes provided her with some pros and cons of continuing her career domestically versus heading overseas.

“There’s always going to be the discussion and debate whether playing in Europe or playing in the U.S. is more competitive, better, more developmental, and for me personally, I’ve had such a great experience in the NWSL,” Hutton said. “I think there’s amazing players over here, not to take away from the European leagues, because I do eventually have dreams to play over there.

“But as I was going through the process and looking and just thinking about timing as well in the cycle with the World Cup and the Olympics, I thought personally staying here and just hopefully consistently getting minutes and being domestic is going to be in my best interest.”

The U.S. starts qualification for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil later this year, followed quickly by the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Hutton said she is looking forward to the lifestyle changes that go along with her move out west, too, particularly the experience of living in a bigger city; Kansas City’s population of around 516,000 is just over half of San Jose’s at around 916,000, according to the U.S. Census. However, it also means moving away from one of her best friends and now-former Current teammate Ally Sentnor.

After signing with Kansas City for what was then a record intra-league transfer fee in August, Sentnor moved into the same apartment building as Hutton, just two doors away from her.

“The fact that we’re not going to be able to walk over to each other’s place and watch a movie or make dinner, it’s sad because we’ve talked about it for so long, but I think the coolest part about our friendship is that no matter what, we always support each other,” Hutton said.

Nonetheless, familiar faces await Hutton in San Jose. She came up through U.S. Soccer’s youth national team system with midfielder Onyeka Gamero, and spent time in Kansas City with forward Alex Pfeiffer and goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz. She also has another best friend attending school at Stanford, a breezy 20-minute drive away from PayPal Park.

“Just as in Kansas City, there’s a great fan base, and I am so thankful that I’ve gotten to experience that the past two years,” she said. “I’m so excited just to see what the Bay has to offer. … It is a bigger city and you’re going to get a lot more people from different areas and different types of people. So just to be able to reach out to the community and see what they have to offer and to show what I have to offer to them, I’m ecstatic for it.”