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Kansas City NWSL announced a trade with the OL Reign. Kansas City is receiving Darian Jenkins, the rights to midfielder Meg Brandt and a 2021 fourth round pick in exchange for Tziarra King and a 2022 second round pick.
Jenkins (25) has been on loan from the Reign with both Melbourne Victory of the W-League in Australia and with Bordeaux in France. In Melbourne Jenkins scored five goals in thirteen appearances. In 2019 Jenkins scored four goals and added an assist for the Reign in eighteen total appearances.
King (22) notched a pair of goals in nine appearances for the Utah Royals in 2020 across the NWSL Challenge Cup and the NWSL Fall Series and was one of the bright spots in a dismal year for Utah.
KC NWSL head coach Huw Williams has had his eye on Jenkins since her college days. “Darian is a player I’ve liked for a long time, I watched her at UCLA quite a bit. I was a big fan of her there. She was roommates with A-Rod’s (Amy Rodriguez) sister Lauren. Lauren worked a couple camps for me and Lauren is the one that identified her for me initially. That is how I started watching her,” Williams explained. “I followed her through college and then she was drafted by North Carolina and obviously when she was in Seattle with Vlatko (Andonovski) I watched her a lot also.”
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Williams is excited about what Jenkins can bring to the team. “She can play the 9 or outside, she has a lot of versatility, she’s a good 1v1 player and strong. She is good, I think she can be an impact player in the league, she’s been battling injuries since she was in the league and hopefully those are behind her now and she can fulfill the promise she has shown.”
When Jenkins was drafted, she was recovering from a broken fibula at UCLA and did not play her rookie year at North Carolina.
“Staying healthy is the biggest thing for her, she will score goals,” Williams stated. “There is no doubt in my mind she can score lots of goals especially in the system we want to play and I think her relationship with A-Rod will be top notch.”