Vivianne Miedema has said she prioritised herself when choosing her new club, Manchester City, following her departure from Arsenal after a seven-year stint.
The 27-year-old scored a whooping 125 goals in 172 appearances for Arsenal but the North London club opted against offering her a new a contract.
Miedema has insisted that she made the decision to part ways with the club and pick a new home for herself.
“I hope that everyone understands that my time at Arsenal over seven years has been very special to me,” she said on Friday while on international duty with the Netherlands.
“Obviously, I would’ve really, really liked to end the story in a different way, but in the end, I think I had to prioritise myself in this decision, and for some people, it’ll be hard to understand. Others will be like, yeah, I fully get what you decided to do.”
Miedema revealed that she was open to a move away from Arsenal in the winter transfer window, with a focus on trying to get back to full fitness and make the Netherlands’ Olympics squad. The Netherlands eventually missed out on a place at the Paris 2024 Olympics after losing 2-0 to Germany in February.
“In my career I’ve always tried to make decisions based off feeling and at a lot of points in my career I have prioritised me being happy off the pitch me and being part of the team because it would mean more to me to win things with Arsenal than with other teams back in the day,” she said.
“I think I was at that point that I was obviously coming back from my ACL injury and I just wanted to do what was best for me and I wanted to get a fair chance of playing and being treated in the right way. And that’s why I was potentially looking to see if there was something else.
“Sometimes you just need to take care of yourself, and as hard as that is and as hard and difficult my last couple months have been, I just want to look back at that time with positivity and that I have had a really nice time shared over seven years and I am just really, really looking forward right now to not look back and to look forward and to start wearing the City kit.”
Miedema, who has signed with City until 2027, said there were two main reasons for her picking a move to the 2016 Women’s Super League winners.
“I think throughout my career and over the last couple choices I’ve had to make, there’s always been two main subjects for me that are really, really important,” she said.
“I think that’s first of all what my football heart is saying so it’s really important how a club plays, what their philosophy is, what their ambitions are.
“And second of all is that I can also be myself and be happy off the pitch. After considering and thinking for a long, long time I just felt like City tick both of those boxes. I’m just really excited to be part of a team that share the same ambition as me and also that are really thinking about the way they play.”
Miedema’s decision to stay in the WSL, despite attracting interest from clubs outside England and in the National Women’s Super League (NWSL), means she will line up against her partner Beth Mead.
“We have obviously spoken about it,” Miedema said when asked about playing against Mead and Arsenal.
“I always said to all the Arsenal girls, I wish them best and I genuinely hope that they achieve great things but not at the cost of city. So when it comes to those games right now it is me and City first, then we’ll go from there.
“Obviously it’s going to be fun to play against each other and to play against my friends from Arsenal too and may the best win.”