Women’s boss reveals that Rosa Kafija needs more time to adjust to “a top class team” like Arsenal

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·14 dicembre 2024

Women’s boss reveals that Rosa Kafija needs more time to adjust to “a top class team” like Arsenal

Rosa Kafaji might have been Arsenal’s women’s summer 24 marquee signing. Despite the excitement surrounding her acquisition, she hasn’t begun her Arsenal career as she had hoped.

When she signed, Arsenal received a lot of praise for that deal. Those who had watched her while playing for BK Hacken suggested that the Gunners were acquiring a player who was bound to become the world’s best. Some viewed her as the ideal Vivianne Miedema replacement.

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But so far this season, Rosa has not demonstrated her worth. Some people believe that Jonas Eidevall has unfairly overlooked her. However, if she was unfairly not being played by Jonas Eidevall, why hasn’t caretaker boss Renee Slegers played her more?

Well, the interim Arsenal women’s manager has hinted that Rosa is still adapting to playing for a top club like Arsenal, but she knows she will be given her chances to be the top player everyone believes she will be at the club.

“Rosa is a very energetic person and player, her passion for football expresses itself in different ways,” said Slegers. “She will walk around with a ball, she doesn’t want to come off the pitch in training, she always wants to do more.

“She always wants to kick the ball and improve. But this is a top class team and for some players it is easy to come in and adjust and for some it takes a little bit longer and we need to respect that.

“Looking at how hard Rosa works and the way she engages and initiates conversations with the coaches to understand what we expect of her, that is the most important thing.

“We believe a lot in Rosa, she has specific qualities that over time are going to be very important for the club. We will do everything we can to get those qualities out.”

It’s disheartening that Kafaji hasn’t started an Arsenal game since September, instead only making brief appearances, such as the 23 minutes she played in Arsenal’s 3-1 victory over Valerenga. But hopefully in the second half of the season she’ll get more game time if she proves herself.

The fact that top clubs like Real Madrid also wanted her suggests she’s that good; it just needs to be found out how best to introduce her to the team.

What do you think?

Michelle M

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