Louisville Trades Fox for NCC Defenders Erceg and Pickett
Courtesy Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Louisville announced the trade of Emily Fox to the North Carolina Courage for defenders Abby Erceg and Carson Pickett. I will start with a full disclosure: Carson Pickett is my favorite player in the NWSL excluding the women who played for Louisville. This means my “analysis” of the trade may be colored by my thoughts on her. Erceg and Pickett provide one thing that Louisville certainly lacks: experience. Pickett is just about the best attacking defender in the league in my opinion (backed up by American Soccer Analysis’s Goals Added statistic). Erceg adds height to the team as well, standing at 5’10.
Taken at face value, this is a really good deal for Louisville. Using the Goals Added stat, Pickett ranked 5th in the league and Erceg 16th in goals added, while Fox was at number18 which was the best showing for Louisville. Incidentally to those overlooking (not me!) the departure of Gemma Bonner, she was Louisville's next highest player at 24th. In my opinion, for all of Fox’s many great qualities, she needed to contribute more on the offensive end. If she hits her full potential in North Carolina (which I say is more than likely), expect here to be getting in the 5 to 6 goal contribution range each year. However, as of the announcement only Erceg even has an option for 2024 for either club. This may be a single year deal for all involved. This is why the deal got done in my opinion. None of the players involved were especially close to extending their contracts with their current clubs. At the end of the day, this makes sense for all parties involved.
Except…
Carson Pickett was available in the expansion draft for Louisville. He-who-must-not-be-named has screwed us once again. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that year-one Louisville could have seen Pickett at left back and Fox at right back. In essence Louisville traded their first ever draft pick (the number one draft pick in 2021) for a player they theoretically could have selected in the expansion draft and a 33 year-old center back. Looking at it from that perspective, it’s not great value for the number one overall pick.
But Louisville is still cleaning up the mess left by the front office and original coaching staff (excluding Segio Gonzalez who for now gets a pass from me). I am not going to rehash the continued uncovering of bad actors as this club, but I would advise fans to be ready for anything when it comes to the (mis)management of this club.
