OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Barbara Bonansea the latest Juventus Women star to head to the NWSL

· Yahoo Sports

BIELLA, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 2: Barbara Bonansea of Juventus Women in action during the UEFA Women's Champions League football match between Juventus and Juventus FC v SKN St. Polten at Stadio Comunale Vittorio Pozzo Lamarmora on September 2, 2026 in Biella, Italy. (Photo by Alberto Gandolfo - Juventus/Juventus FC via Getty Images) | Juventus FC via Getty Images

Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen the same players who helped make Juventus Women what they have become over their first decade of existence head out on new adventures one by one. For much of that Italian core, it has involved a move to the United States and the NWSL. First there was Sofia Cantore and Lisa Boattin, then Cristiana Girelli head to the West Coast and the sunny weather of California.

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Now, we have the latest pillar of the Bianconere’s past heading across the Atlantic to play outside of Italy for the first time in her very accomplished career.

The club announced on Friday that Italian winger Barbara Bonansea — one of the final pieces of the original Juventus Women roster to still be playing in Turin — is heading to the United States and joining the San Diego Wave on loan. As part of the move, the 35-year-old Bonansea extended her contract with Juve until 2028. But she is now very much an NWSL player, and much like when Girelli joined Bay FC, it will be one that sees her join one of the best leagues in the world for more than just the current campaign.

The loan move, as of now, will run through June 2027, according to the Wave’s press release announcing the signing.

With BB heading to San Diego and the sunny beaches that come with it, that now leaves just two original pieces of the Bianconere’s title-winning debut side still on the roster: Martina Rosucci and Cecilia Salvai.

Much in the same fashion as Girelli, Bonansea heading to play in the United States is a late-career move that you can wholeheartedly understand why she took the chance to do. Bonansea, maybe more than any of the big names who started the club, has been linked with big moves in the past involving other big names in the European game. However, each time something like that came up, Bonansea stayed right where she was, and Juventus were obviously the biggest beneficiary of that.

As she leaves the club (for now), Bonansea holds the record for most appearances with the Bianconere with 248, surpassing former Juve midfielder Arianna Caruso — who signed with Real Madrid earlier this summer — late last season. She is the second-highest goal scorer behind Girelli with 96 goals.

And the most impressive total of them all: Bonansea won a whopping 16 trophies with Juventus Women, including six league titles, the most recent of which coming during the 2024-25 season.

Pretty impressive, ain’t it? Bonansea may not have had as big of a role over the last year or two as she did during so many of Juve’s title-winning years, but she sure as hell played a vital role in helping this club build a women’s team into what it is today.

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