2018 Player Profiles: Brooke Elby

Brooke Elby began 2018 in the gold of a Utah Royals FC jersey, but she was traded to Chicago Red Stars in the deal that brought Christen Press and Samantha Johnson to Utah.

Elby, aged 25, either made the bench or started the majority of the games during her time in Salt Lake City. The outside back is a talented defender but she’s also able to contribute to the attack. In the few months she played with the Royals, she made 7 appearances and totaled 577 minutes. The outside back role was another position that head coach Laura Harvey changed quite a bit. Brooke played as both a right back and a left back in the 7 games in which she saw the field, but generally started on the right.

Elby as a positive to the team and therefore it makes sense that Chicago Red Stars would want her. The trade that allowed Utah Royals to sign Christen Press (Chicago held her rights) also brought Samantha Johnson, but this meant we lost Elby to the Red Stars. It’s hard to argue with that deal, but seeing a good player leave is never fun. Surprisingly she only played four games with Chicago in the remainder of the 2018 season. One of those games was at Rio Tinto Stadium against Utah Royals, and she received applause by the Royals fans.

On October 1st, Chicago Red Stars announced that they were exercising the option on Brooke Elby’s contract, so we’ll see her in the NWSL in 2019.

Lucas Muller | RSL Soapbox