LIVERPOOL, England – After being hopeful that Scottish midfielder Claire Emslie would return to Florida, Orlando Pride learned on Thursday that she would be making her stay in Everton permanent.
When the National Women’s Soccer League shut down due to COVID-19 last year Emslie was part of the many players who sought play overseas. That saw Emslie loaned out to Everton in the FA Women’s Super League.
It wasn’t for lack of trying, Orlando did reach make an offer to the Scotland international but she has been shining for Everton and has chosen to remain in the UK, being in Northern England makes her not far from her family north of the border.
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She played for Orlando in 2019, but had the season interrupted by the World Cup where she scored Scotland’s first World Cup goal. That limited her to just nine appearances for the Pride, without any goals, managing one assist. She managed 25 crosses though, showing she could send the ball in but her teammates couldn’t polish it off.
There were hopes that Emslie would return to Florida, where she also played her college soccer, especially with her good form, but with a pandemic it is hard for any player to leave family behind. Emslie has signed an 18-month contract with the Liverpool club to make it two full years with the Toffees.
Emslie has played seven matches, starting six of them scoring two goals and providing two assists, managing to match her xG perfectly. Impressively she’s providing much more than expected, beating her xA of 0.9, according to Stats Bomb.
Her passing has been strong, managing a 66.4 percent passing accuracy (101/152), producing six key passes and 13 passes into the final third. Most of those incomplete passes (14) have been blocked rather than passing to an interception. The work to create chances has been stellar, creating 20 shot creating actions at 3.77/game.
While Emslie hadn’t led the line at Exploria Stadium she will be a miss for an Orlando side determined to rebuild in 2021 and creates a whole for recruitment.
PHOTO: Scotland FA
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