Dutch international Kerstin Casparij on signing new Manchester City women contract

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Dutch international Kerstin Casparij on signing new Manchester City women contract  16/12/2024  courtesy of Manchester City  CFGA Studio, Manchester, UK

Transcript

00:00Kirsten, firstly, congratulations. How does it feel to sign this new contract at City?

00:05Thank you. Yeah, it feels amazing, obviously.

00:08Waited a while, took a bit of time,

00:10but really good to get it over the line and stay a couple more years.

00:14And what did you have to consider when deciding your future was here at the club?

00:18Not a lot, to be fair. It was pretty much a no-brainer,

00:21and as soon as Charlotte let me know, as Charlotte and Gas let me know

00:25they wanted to extend my contract,

00:27I was pretty much up for it straight away,

00:29so there was not a lot of consideration into it.

00:32And your previous contract was expiring this summer,

00:35so how nice is it to have your future settled

00:38with no unexpected feelings going into next year?

00:41It's nice, obviously, not having the stress of, you know,

00:45where am I going to be, where's my family going to be,

00:47do I have to move, et cetera?

00:49So, yeah, kind of the stability is nice,

00:52which is not a guaranteed thing in football,

00:54so wherever I can I try and create that.

00:57So, yeah, it was really good.

00:58You've spoken before about the youthfulness of the side,

01:01how exciting it is.

01:02It does feel like an exciting time at City at the moment, doesn't it?

01:05It does, it does. I think we're doing really good things

01:08and it's really exciting, and obviously that's why I wanted to extend,

01:12I wanted to see where we're heading,

01:14and I think we've got exciting times ahead of us.

01:17Gareth has said recently you have the potential

01:20to be one of the best players in the world.

01:22How much of an influence did he have on your decision to stay here?

01:26Obviously a big influence.

01:27He was the one that signed me in the first place,

01:29and before initially signing he had big trust in me,

01:33and he really helped me look at the bigger picture

01:36and kind of convinced me why coming to City was the best thing for me,

01:41and over the last few years he's convinced me

01:43that still this is the best place for me

01:45and where we want to go, obviously as a team,

01:47but also for me personally and how I fit into the model

01:50and into the game plan, but also fit into the club

01:52and the values that the club has.

01:54So he's obviously had an incredibly big influence on that.

01:58And what conversations have you had with him around this period?

02:02Initially he signed his contract until 27 as well,

02:06so after he signed we had a conversation,

02:10him saying we're going to stay a couple more years,

02:13and he was looking at the team that he wanted to have

02:17and he wanted me to stay a part of that,

02:20and I think that's the only conversation we've had.

02:23He was like, I really want you to stay,

02:25and obviously I wanted to stay as well,

02:27so it was a brief conversation.

02:29We've seen Therese come in as the Director of Football as well.

02:32From your point of view, how do you view the growth

02:35of the football club on and off the pitch?

02:38Obviously we've got incredible growth.

02:40I think our own training facility is a good example of that.

02:45Us going into the Atiak Mall, filling out the Joyce Stadium,

02:49I think we're growing, signing incredible players,

02:52making sure good players stay as well,

02:54obviously with the likes of Hemp or Yui Kiara, re-signing.

02:58So I think we're growing massively,

03:00and obviously Therese can help us with that as well.

03:03We've seen the quality of the WSL grow year on year.

03:07How much were you wanting to stay in this division

03:10and grow alongside the division as well?

03:12Everyone these days, it's like a trend.

03:14Everyone wants to come to England, come to the WSL,

03:17and I think the image that the league has,

03:21and obviously with the growth, it's immense and it's incredible.

03:25A lot of it's down to English people just being football crazy,

03:29and you really see that cycling through to the WSL.

03:32So everyone wants to be here, and I obviously want to stay.

03:35And your personal growth,

03:37how have you mapped that since you signed two seasons ago?

03:40I think we did it step-by-step.

03:42Obviously we have some big goals with the club as a team

03:47and individually for me, and try and take it step-by-step

03:50and play it regularly now,

03:52and trying to be as important as I can from the back going up front.

03:57And Gilles and Viv have joined you here.

04:00It must be nice to have a Dutch contingent at the club as well.

04:03Yeah, we've got quite a few Dutchies now, Dutch-speaking girls,

04:06and it's good for them to be here as incredible players,

04:10but also good people.

04:12We have a lot of good people in the team, and the Dutchies are fun.

04:15We bring something different to the table.

04:17You mentioned there about good people and good players in the team.

04:20How have you viewed the transformation of the squad

04:23since your time at City?

04:25What hasn't transformed as much, obviously,

04:27when I joined was the big transformation.

04:29A lot of players going out, a lot of new players coming in.

04:32We've kind of stayed pretty similar to how the team was when I joined.

04:37Obviously over the summer we've signed quite a few players,

04:40but all those girls fit in perfectly.

04:42Incredibly nice girls, good personnel,

04:45but also good players with a lot of potential.

04:48So I don't think we've changed massively.

04:51And do you see yourself as more of a senior figure now,

04:54only being 24?

04:56No, no, no.

04:58I'm an in-betweener at the moment.

05:01I try and take my responsibilities on the pitch,

05:04but off the pitch I'm still going to be myself and mess about a bit.

05:09And this season, how have you assessed it?

05:11It's been a busy schedule,

05:13but a great record in Europe and in the league as well.

05:17I think we're very proud of what we've done so far this season.

05:20I think we had a really good start,

05:22both in the league as in the Champions League.

05:25That is something we want to carry on through to Christmas break.

05:29Hopefully second half of the season we can end up with some silverware.

05:33We have to talk about the fans.

05:35They've obviously got their own charm here as well.

05:37What do those fans mean to you?

05:39They mean a lot.

05:40They're obviously a big reason of why we do what we do

05:43and why we do so well as well.

05:45We can really tell when the crowd gets a bit riled up

05:49that that really helps us on the pitch and it really helps me.

05:52I've got a lot of support ever since joining,

05:55and people are loving an interaction on social media.

05:58They're all good interactions and they mean a lot to me

06:02and they mean a lot to us as a team.

06:04You seem really settled here in Manchester.

06:06What is it about the city you connect with

06:08that has helped you settle in at the club?

06:10I think the city itself just has a really nice environment.

06:14I lived in central Manchester for a couple of years,

06:17which was just nice.

06:19Even then you don't feel like you're in the big city.

06:21Everyone's so nice, everyone's so chill.

06:23There's a lot of fun stuff to do, a lot of different types of areas.

06:28It doesn't feel as differently as it feels being home in the Netherlands.

06:32I think the similarity is what I've enjoyed.

06:36Finally, what are your ambitions for the rest of the season and beyond?

06:40I'm going to throw a cliche in there.

06:43We want to win something.

06:45We want to give our fans something to celebrate.

06:47We want to give ourselves something to celebrate.

06:49We've been working so hard this season,

06:51obviously last season as well, just missing out.

06:53Having something to celebrate is definitely the goal for me this year.

06:58Thank you for your time and congratulations again.

07:00Thank you so much.

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