Yahoo Sports Miedema: City’s ambitions match mine
Vivianne Miedema says Manchester City’s ambitions on and off the pitch convinced her to move to the Joie Stadium.
The Barclays Women’s Super League’s all-time leading scorer has joined Gareth Taylor’s side on a three-year deal following an illustrious seven seasons at Arsenal.
In total, the Netherlands international scored 80 league goals for the Gunners and broke a swathe of individual records during her time in north London.
As her time in the capital came to an end, she explained how the Blues’ aspirations match her own and that the opportunity to progress alongside the Club made her want to play in sky blue.
"The reason I chose City is because they have the same ambitions as me,” she declared.
“They want to win the league and titles. That really applies to what I want as well. I think over the last couple of years the development has been really good.
“They’ve got a clear philosophy on how they want to play and I really think we can take this team to the next level. I’m really excited to see what that next level actually brings us.
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“I have played here many, many years and many games, but it has been really nice to see everything behind the scenes.
“Clearly [I’ve] not seen everything yet, but when we start in July, I’ll get to see everything, see all the girls and obviously again one of the reasons I wanted to come to City was that everything is so professional.
“The ambition from the Club is really, really high and I can’t wait to get started in that sense.
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“I do think this is the place to be right now. In the end, it was an easy choice for me. I want to challenge myself every day in training, but also every single week in the games we play.
“I think City is the right place to do that right now.”
Across the past two WSL seasons, a swathe of attendance records have been broken as the exponential growth of the women’s game continued.
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An incredible 44,259 supporters witnessed City’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium in December 2022 before over 40,000 attended the same arena as Taylor’s team beat our cross-city rivals 3-1 in March 2024.
And Miedema says she’s relishing the opportunity to build a strong connection with the Club’s devoted fans.
She added: “I really wanted to stay in the WSL, not really for the records, but for the development of the league.
“I think over the last couple of years we’ve gone from playing at the smaller stadiums with maybe 500 people in the stands to selling out crowds all over the country.
“My way of playing is that I set up other players around me and I did want to stay in the WSL because I think it’s the best league.
“I’ve been fairly fortunate to play in front of a lot of big crowds and I can’t wait to play in front of City fans. [My message to them is] Come support us, come to the stadium every week.
“As a player you appreciate the fans being there so much. For me personally and I’m pretty sure all of the girls, it’s really important to have that connection with the fans.”
