Casparij: City keep growing on and off the pitch | OneFootball

Kerstin Casparij says Manchester City is the place to be thanks to our incredible growth on and off the pitch in recent years.

The Dutch international is currently enjoying her third full season in Manchester and has now agreed to extend her stay by a further two campaigns until 2027.

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And the defender believes the Club has seen exponential growth during her time at the Joie Stadium so far with an exciting young squad capable of competing for top honours.

But, as Casparij, explains, that development isn’t restricted to the pitch.

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“We have incredible growth,” she began.

“We have our own training facilities which is a good example of that. Us going into the Etihad more, filling out the Joie Stadium.

“I think we’re growing, signing incredible players and making sure good players stay as well. The likes of Hempo [Lauren Hemp], Yui [Hasegawa] and Khiara [Keating] re-signing.

“We’re growing massively and hopefully Therese [Sjogran, Director of Women’s Football] can help us with that as well.”

In terms of her personal growth, Casparij added: “I think I’ve done it step by step. We have some big goals with the Club, as a team and individually for me and trying to take it step by step.

“I’m playing regularly now and I’m trying to be as important as I can from the back going to the front.”

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Casparij was one of seven new signings in the summer of 2022 following the departure and retirement of several key faces at the end of the previous campaign.

But the Dutch defender believes the relative continuity of the squad since that pre-season rebuild has been crucial to City’s development over the past two seasons, combined with a healthy number of additions to freshen things up.

She continued: “It hasn’t transformed as much, when I joined was the big transformation. A lot of players going out and new players coming in.

“We’ve stayed pretty similar to how the team was when I joined. Over the summer we signed quite a few players, but all those players fit in perfectly.

“Nice girls, good personalities but also good players with a lot of potential. I don’t think we’ve changed massively.

Asked if she considers herself a senior figure in the dressing room, she added: “No, no. I’m an in-betweener at the moment!

“I try to take my responsibilities on the pitch, but I’m still going to be myself and mess about a bit [off it].”