Lianne Sanderson cites Super League delay as reason for US move (original) (raw)

The delayed start to the Football Association's Super League has cost the English club game yet another of its top players. The Chelsea striker Lianne Sanderson has become the seventh member of the England squad to move to America's Women's Professional Soccer League.

Sanderson is set to join Philadelphia Independence but says that she might have stayed in England if the Super League was preparing for its inaugural season this year rather than having been deferred to 2011. "It's great that there's going to be a Super League," said the 21‑year‑old striker, "but it's come around too late.

"If it was happening now and I had the choice of England or America, I might have had a big decision to make. As it is, there was nothing to decide – I've been given a massive opportunity and I'm going to live the dream of becoming a professional footballer in the best league in the world."

Sanderson's move follows that of her former Arsenal colleague Katie Chapman, who recently signed for Chicago Red Stars.The national team coach Hope Powell will have a third of her squad playing for US clubs during 2010 and she has on several occasions expressed her disquiet at the player drain.

"When I told Hope I was going she was very gracious about it and said playing in America would make me a better player," said Anderson. "She's already seen the improvement in the girls who played over there last year, so I think the situation can actually help the England team."

In what will be one of her final games for Chelsea, Sanderson lined up against Chapman in Arsenal's 2-1 Premier League win. In the delayed FA Cup fourth-round ties Everton beat Queens Park Rangers 6-2, Leeds beat Watford 4-1, Blackburn hammered Fulham 6-0 and Nottingham Forest ran out 3-2 winners against Leeds City Vixens.