It’s sometimes easy to forget that Karen Carney is only 21 years of age.  An England international, twice English FA Young National Player of the Year and a collection of winners’ medals is a resume you would expect from a player beyond her years.  
 
Now after seven years of playing at the top level of women’s football in England (Carney made her debut for Birmingham City at just 14) the former Gunner has joined a number of England stars in crossing the Atlantic to play in Women’s Professional Soccer.  It’s a challenge she is relishing.

“I am very excited about joining Women’s Professional Soccer,” Carney said.  “The opportunity to play in front of big crowds on big pitches against the best players in world is something I have only dreamed about.”
 
Indeed Carney will be in good company, with the league already attracting a host of world-class players from around the globe including three-time FIFA Women’s Player of the Year Marta.  But when considering who she is most eager to face, the results are a little closer to home.
 
“I’m looking forward to playing against Kelly Smith and Alex Scott as they have been my teammates at Arsenal,” she said.  “It will be really weird to play against them as I haven’t really done that before and especially with so much at stake.
 
“We have chatted about it and joked about playing against each other but they are two top players so I’m sure we will all enjoy the challenge.  I am also excited at teaming up with all the Chicago Red Star players in particular Carli Lloyd and Cristiane.  They are both top players who I can’t wait to learn off.”
 
Along with Smith and Scott, Carney is leaving behind Arsenal where she wasn’t short of silverware as The Gunners dominated the English domestic game as well as winning a historic UEFA Women’s Cup.  But with their dominance looking set to continue, Carney felt the time was right to move on.
 
“It was very difficult to leave Arsenal as the club is so friendly and I loved everyone,” Carney said. “We achieved so much and I’m sure they will continue to do so.
 
“But for me personally when the WPS opportunity arose it was something I couldn't turn down and I felt this was a new challenge that I would regret for the rest of my life if I didn’t take. I think it has come at a good stage in my life.”
 
One person Carney will be familiar with at Chicago is former Arsenal assistant coach Emma Hayes, who is now head coach at the Red Stars and someone who played a big part in Carney’s decision to join the Illinois based side.
 
“Emma being the Red Star coach was a huge factor in me joining the team,” Carney said. “If I had another offer from a different team I’m sure I would have joined the WPS anyway but I was so happy when I was drafted by Emma.  

“At Arsenal she really took me under her wing and gave me confidence, believed in me, gave me goals for each game and really helped me improve so when I got drafted by her I was over the moon.”

While there is little doubt that playing in WPS is going to be beneficial to new recruits such as Carney, the exodus of English internationals to the States has raised issues over the state of the women’s game in England. The Football Association, who overseas the game in England, composed a plan to implement central contracts for internationals, but it has appeared to come too late while the details of the FA’s proposed 2010 summer Super League are still hazy.  

But Carney is quick to defend the progression of the women’s game in England, believing the sport is heading in the right direction and that England players participating in WPS should be seen in a positive, not negative, light.

“You need to look at the fact that five English players have been drafted (by WPS),” Carney said.  “That is a credit to how far England has come as a nation in women’s football and to all the work that has been put into the game over the last few years.
 
“The Super League that has been proposed sounds great and the league can only learn from WPS. From what I’ve heard about the new league the set up seems to be right and the way they are taking their time shows  they are keen to get it right and make it sustainable.”
 
For now, Carney is focused on her new adventure with the Red Stars.
 
“I will be living in a foreign country travelling all over the States, playing and doing what I love the most as a job and trying to improve at something I have been devoted to for so many years.”
 
And if Carney’s short but successful career so far is anything to go by, she could become one of the finest exports of the English women’s game and show WPS and its fans just how far the sport has come in her homeland.

Scott Hobro is a freelance writer. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Women’s Professional Soccer or womensprosoccer.com.