Julie Ertz is ready to 'embrace new challenges' and a new team after trade to NWSL expansion club Angel City

• USWNT star Julie Ertz has played with the Chicago Red Stars, an NWSL club, since going pro in 2014.
• In early December, Chicago traded the 29-year-old midfielder to expansion side Angel City FC.

For as long as she's been a professional soccer player, Julie Ertz has been a Chicago Red Star.

But if there's one thing the National Women's Soccer League and US Women's National Team star has learned in her eight years running the midfield at the highest levels of women's soccer, it's "to embrace new challenges in your career" because that's how you "continue to grow."

So when Ertz was traded from her longtime club in Chicago to Los Angeles-based NWSL expansion franchise Angel City FC in early December, she was ready to lean into the change — even if "it's all still surreal, all coming together" a few weeks later.

"Anytime somebody believes that you could be helpful and an impact on their team, it's a huge honor," Ertz told Insider four days after the blockbuster trade was announced. "And anyone that thinks obviously that you can come and be helpful is huge."

"I'm excited for the new franchise for what they've already accomplished, what they want to [do], and their plans to do that," she added.

Ertz wasn't the only big name tapped to help establish the new team — known for its star-studded owernship group — as a competitive force as soon as they take the pitch for their inaugural season. Angel City brought in prolific USWNT striker Christen Press as the team's first signee in August, and longtime Red Stars defender Sarah Gorden joined Ertz in Chicago's trade to LA in exchange for immunity in Thursday's expansion draft.

In a recent interview with Insider, Julie Foudy — the former USWNT captain who was one of Angel City's founding investors — said she was "thrilled" when she learned the club had traded for Ertz. The player-turned-ESPN analyst called the trio of Ertz, Press, and Gorden "quite a spine of a team" with whom to kick-start Angel City's efforts.

"I'm not surprised that Julie Foudy would be incredibly excited, especially with the incredible forward that Press is and the incredible defender that Sarah [Gorden] is," Ertz said. "Each one of them is incredible. And obviously [Angel City is] at a great start for that."

But even Foudy conceded that Ertz "has to want to come play for Angel City" for the club's grand plans to come to fruition.

"Hopefully that will be the case," Foudy added.

One major factor working in Foudy and ACFC's favor is the club's location. Playing in Los Angeles would put Ertz far closer to her friends and family back home in Mesa, Arizona — and to her husband, Arizona Cardinals tight end Zach Ertz — than she was while playing in Chicago.

Ertz, who spent most of the fall back in her home state with her husband while recovering from an injury, said herself that "being closer to home and my family is always incredible."

"For my entire career, I haven't really been able to see or share moments or even holidays with [my family]," Ertz said. "Coming back to where you're from, that completely is where my heart is. I feel like everyone feels like that. Where you grow up is just a piece of you."

With her deep roots in the region and her husband now suiting up for the area's NFL franchise, Ertz is keen on giving back to the community that's given her so much for so long. Ahead of the holidays, she and Zach teamed up with DICK'S Sporting Goods to surprise 15 local Boys & Girls Club kids with a sports-filled shopping spree.

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"To be able to see these kids and share the love of sports too, and be able to give them a gift and a smile on their face, is amazing anywhere you are," Ertz said. "But for some reason, it does feel a little bit different at home."