Viv Meidema on swapping Armsenal for Manchester City women with fans

NicheSportMedia

Viv Meidema on swapping Armsenal for Manchester City women with fans  04/08/2024  Etihad Stadium, Manchester, UK

Transcript

00:00Manchester City women's team signing, one of the top strikers in world football.

00:06She's been shortlisted for the Ballon d'Or feminine three times in the last six years.

00:11She's an all-time leading goal scorer in the WSL and has scored more goals for a national side

00:16than any other player as man or woman, of course the Netherlands.

00:20She's won numerous major trophies in her previous slides,

00:23Herenveen Bayern Munich, Arsenal and of course the Netherlands national team.

00:28And I'm sure she's hungry to win more, now she's a blue.

00:32Please put your hands together for the one and only Viviana Miedema!

00:58Viv, welcome to Manchester City, I mean I saw you walk around that corner,

01:18you bumped into Moonbeam first thing, I thought you were going to jump on her and start fighting

01:22with her but she's really nice, you'll get used to Moonbeam. Listen, welcome of course to Manchester

01:27City, how does it feel now you are a Manchester City player?

01:35Being here, obviously pretty official, I've been looking forward to start pre-season

01:41after a couple weeks off and yeah I'm just really excited to be here now.

01:45And you've played of course for Arsenal over the road at the Joy Stadium,

01:48how much are you looking forward to... Be nice, come on she's a blue now, be nice!

01:54How much are you looking forward to putting on that Manchester City shirt for the first time at

01:58the Joy Stadium and playing in front of these amazing fans? Yeah a lot obviously, we've got

02:03a juicy game at the start of the season away to Arsenal but yeah really excited to get started

02:11here, hopefully to score a lot of goals in the blue and I do hope that this season we can win

02:20a couple titles and go from there. Let's talk about the Etihad Stadium as well because this

02:28season there'll be three WSL games being played at the Etihad Stadium, of course it's going to

02:32be amazing at the Joy Stadium but how excited are you to be playing here as well? Yeah super

02:37excited, I think I started playing football as a little girl because I wanted to entertain people

02:41and playing in a big stadium with all the amazing fans being there, it's the best thing ever. I

02:47think it's something we look forward to as players and it always gives us extra energy so

02:51yeah I can't wait to play hopefully in a sold-out stadium here next year.

02:59And Viv, of course you've got a couple of familiar faces in the Manchester City dressing

03:04room. Kirsten who you played with in international duty, big up for Kirsten and of course Jill

03:11who you played with at Arsenal as well, Jo Rod. Does it help you know when you're transitioning

03:17into a new team, does it help to have a few familiar faces that can not just show you the

03:21sights of Manchester but of course integrate you into the Manchester City team? Absolutely,

03:27I know Jill since I'm 13, we've played together for such a long time, obviously played with

03:31Kirsten lately as well and they're both lovely girls and they will definitely help me settle in.

03:36Know a lot of the English girls already, played with a couple other girls before so I think

03:41hopefully I won't have any issue fitting in the team and yeah knowing my way around Manchester.

03:48Let's talk about the season ahead, what are the personal goals for you for the season ahead of

03:52course, do you set yourself goal targets, assist targets, anything like that? Well let's start with

03:56staying fit because I'm finally fit again and I'm finally feeling good and as I said like I don't

04:03play football just to score goals and assist but I do know that with me being me that comes with it

04:09so I hope that I can help the team, assist a lot of the girls, score a lot of goals myself as well

04:15and yeah obviously individual prizes are nice but I am here to win things with City and yeah I can't

04:21wait to get started. And you say hopefully win things with City, you're familiar to winning the

04:28WSL of course, now you're fit like you're saying, now you're healthy, you're coming into this

04:32Manchester City side that was so close last season, are you kind of looking forward to hopefully this

04:37season taking them over the line and winning that WSL title? Yeah definitely, I think over the last

04:43couple years they've played amazing football and they've just been very very close to winning it

04:48but they've, yeah sadly for them not and I hope that with my experience and obviously having

04:54done it before I can help the team, I can help the girls, they obviously have to help me as well

04:59settling and getting up to speed but I think it's something really exciting if you

05:04look at how they played and hopefully we can up that game this season and hopefully that comes

05:09with winning prizes. Let's stick with that conversation about the amazing football, what

05:13are you most looking forward to from a footballing point of view playing in this side, have you

05:16imagined being a part of the system they play? Yeah definitely, obviously spoke to Gareth a lot,

05:21spoke to the other girls and I think it's something that's going to be really really exciting,

05:26I think there's so much qualities from the girls that are there already and I hope that I am just

05:31going to fit in straight away and I think if you look at how they've played the last couple

05:36seasons I think that's definitely my cup of tea. I'm going to go a little bit off piste on this

05:40one because I mean you talk about the quality that Manchester City have got and we were talking a

05:44little bit earlier on in regards to Bunny Shaw and how well Bunny's done, are you quite excited to

05:50I guess not just play alongside Bunny Shaw but could be you are Bunny Shaw in certain

05:55games as well, 21 goals in the WSL for Bunny last season and a top striker herself?

06:02Absolutely I think again like she's got so much quality, we've got completely different qualities

06:06and I think that's going to fit together so so well, I think with the likes of Lornham, Chloe Kelly,

06:13Mary Fowler on the wings as well I think we're going to have plenty of opportunities and chances

06:18to score and I think that's going to be really really really exciting to be part of and hopefully

06:24I can play my part in that. We've got a question Viv from a fan, Joe from Ancoats, I'm not sure

06:31whether Joe's around here today but he's, what he does to Asher, you've mentioned you've kept

06:35a close eye on City over the last few years, I know you kind of answered it a minute ago but

06:39what's kind of attracted to you, you mentioned the style of play, you know what else maybe is

06:43attracted to you because I'm sure you had offers from all around the world, what what kind of led

06:47you to City? I think the way they play is really important to me, speaking to the coach, knowing

06:54the girls has also really helped me to make this decision and I really wanted to stay in England

06:59because I think it's the best league and yeah looking to or like having spoke to other clubs

07:06as well I think I just my gut feelings at City straight away and yeah going from there, moving

07:12forward from there, it's just something that really grew with excitement and as I said I've

07:18obviously known I'm signing for City for quite a bit now and I'm just really excited to get started

07:23and hopefully yeah fit straight in. And finally before you get a chance to meet all of our fans

07:28who have come out for you, I want to just ask you what's most exciting about Manchester City,

07:32the club's environment of course is changing so so much, we've seen the Joy Stadium, we've seen

07:36a new training ground getting built as well, do you think that's going to help enhance your

07:39performance on the field? Yeah definitely, I think having played here for the last seven years,

07:44it's always been one of the stadiums that I actually didn't like coming to that much because

07:48we never won here but I think the setup is great and I think obviously having the facilities at

07:54the training ground, being part of such a massive club who's also been extremely successful on the

07:58men's side can only help a woman's team grow. I do think that if you look into the future we

08:05do have a lot of steps to make still because I think yeah the world is always that I think

08:10we've got so much opportunity and so much talent in the group and yeah I really hope that we can

08:15can grow and yeah as I said prices come with that hopefully.

08:20Yes one more time, listen it's brilliant to see you down here today, the fans are of course

08:27really really excited to see you on the pitch which we will be doing very soon, best of luck

08:31for the new season, the upcoming season. Can everybody put your hands together to a world

08:37legend that is now a blue, Viviana Minamar and you'll be getting a chance in a few minutes time

08:43to get some signatures from Viv and we will be coming up very very soon as well

08:50with the Manchester City men's signing Savino.

Category

Transcript

Recommended