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American defender Alana Cook didn’t put her name in for the NWSL college draft, and now we know why. Cook just signed a three-year deal with Paris Saint-Germain.
— PSG Féminines (@PSG_Feminines) January 15, 2019
Le @psg_feminines est heureux d’annoncer l’arrivée dans son effectif d'Alana Cook
La défenseur s’engage avec le club jusqu’au 30 juin 2022
#ICICESTPARIShttps://t.co/WMAGK0ZbLM
Cook comes out of Stanford, with whom she won an NCAA championship in 2017. She was also named Pac-12 defensive player of the year in 2018 and has experience with the USWNT U20s and U23s.
PSG is probably the only team in Division 1 that is capable of regularly challenging current league champs (and 16-time winners) Lyon. With Cook on a three-year deal, this could be a fantastic opportunity for her to develop as a player while regularly facing top internationals and enjoying a high-level training environment. These are things you can find in NWSL, but perhaps weren’t guaranteed by going through the draft. She also wouldn’t be making the kind of money to be found at PSG; had she ended up with an NWSL team, she very likely would have started close to the league minimum, which was raised to $16,538 for the 2019 season.