Miedema hoping to bounce-off fellow goal machine Shaw at Manchester City | OneFootball

Manchester City’s new signing Vivianne Miedema says that she is hoping to bounce off fellow forward Khadija Shaw.

Miedema completed her move to The Joie Stadium this morning following the expiry of her contract at former club Arsenal. She has signed a three-year deal with Manchester City.

After adding Miedema to their squad, Manchester City now have the Barclays Women’s Super League’s all-time top scorer on their books. The Cityzens also have the 2023/2024 top goalscorer in their ranks in the form of Jamaican international forward Shaw.

When speaking to WSL Full-Time this afternoon, Manchester City’s new recruit Miedema said that she has very different qualities to teammate Shaw, however, she is hoping to strike up a lethal connection with the player this season.

“I don’t really think you can find players that are further apart when it comes to goalscoring and qualities [than myself and Bunny Shaw], which is really exciting,” Miedema said.

“I think once we get that connection going, we can really bounce off each other and I think we can help each other in that way. Obviously, I love the part of creating for others as well, which I hope she can benefit from and the other way around.

“Depending on who you play against, we will both have different qualities that fit a game best. I think for us, it’s just about trying to connect all these qualities and well, if we do get up and running, then it might be a really interesting season.”

Miedema was predominantly known for being an out-and-out striker at former club Arsenal, although she did play in a deeper midfield role at times towards the end of her career in North London. The Dutch international is willing to play wherever she is asked by Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor.

“Well, I’ve got number six, so it might be [playing as] a centre-back from now on,” Miedema joked when asked about her potential on-field role.

“You never know but obviously, it’s been something I’ve spoken about with Gareth. I think looking at my own game, I’ve always had the flexibility of playing in a lot of different positions. I’ve been playing on the left-wing, coming inside, I’ve been playing as a 10 and obviously, mostly I’ve been playing as a nine. I’m very happy to adjust and to play either or.

“Looking at the qualities we have, I think we’re going to have a lot of fun attacking-wise because we’ve all got very different qualities. It’ll be really exciting for me to get to know the girls, to obviously have that understanding with them and I hope that I can help them raise their game even more comparing to last season. I’m happy to either play as a 10 or a nine.”

Manchester City will be hoping to end a two-season trophy drought in 2024/2025. Miedema admits that she is not affected by the pressure of being expected to deliver silverware.

She said “I like a bit of pressure. I made the same decision going to Arsenal after they hadn’t won the league for a long time.

“I think City last season showed how close they were, how good they were. I hope that with me coming in, other girls coming in, hopefully, they can make that next step.

“I fully believe that I’ve joined the club that is good enough to play for all the prizes and I hope that we can show that over the next couple of seasons.”

Miedema is the first new arrival of the summer at Manchester City.