Do Manchester City Women need a World Cup winning defender?

The last two transfer windows has seen an influx of foreign talent enter the FAWSL, most notably from the United States. Christian Press and Tobin Heath both joined Manchester United Women in the summer of 2020 as did Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle to Manchester City Women. The American stars all wanted regular game time and new pastures to test their mettle in another competitive league.

Most recently another USWNT star has decided to cross the channel in Abby Dahlkemper. The centre-back plyed her trade at North Carolina Courage but with the next NWSL league season still a few months away, she decided now was the best time to make a permanent move across and join Gareth Taylor’s Manchester City side.

This scout report will look at Dahlkemper and the traits she possesses which will benefit her new team. We will also analyse how she’ll fit into the tactics and whether or not Dahlkemper is a good fit for City or not.

Player profile

Abby Dahlkemper is a 27-year-old central defender and her team’s main ball progressor. Her role is that of a ball-playing centre-back where she is the team’s main source of progression through her impressive on the ball skills and range of passing. Blessed with pace, Dahlkemper is also a good covering defender which makes her a very good fit for a team that plays a high defensive line.

An experienced international, Dahlkemper has 62 appearances for her country and 64 appearances for North Carolina Courage, so she brings a wealth of international experience to City’s backline.

Progressive passing

To begin this analysis, it’s important to highlight Dahlkemper’s most impressive trait which is her on the ball skills mainly her passing ability. As we’ve mentioned already, she has been her team’s main source of progression by playing out from the back. Whether it’s receiving passes from the goalkeeper or back passes from midfield, Dahlkemper looks very assured in possession and is always looking for forward passing options.

Dahlkemper’s heat map indicates that she is very active outside of the 18-yard box and is not afraid to push up illustrating how high she plays in her teams. This plays a factor in how she’s able to influence her team’s build-up and ability to play more dynamic and risky passes. A lot of her passes for the Courage were longer passes out to the forwards or full-backs. Given their heavy possession style of play, the Courage were afforded space coming out from the back where Dahlkemper was able to play out her trademark passes as the image below shows.