MANCHESTER CITY forward Lauren Hemp says new team-mate Vivianne Miedema has already made herself at home following her head-turning summer move.
The Dutch striker and all-time Women’s Super League top goal-scorer left Arsenal on a free transfer in July to join last season’s runners-up on a three-year deal.
Miedema soon found herself on a plane to Australia, where she struck the decisive spot-kick to send her new side to the final of the inaugural Perth International Cup, ultimately won by Paris St Germain.
Hemp said: “They’ve all settled in really well, the [new] players are very talented.
“I think we’ve recruited well this summer, so I’m excited to see the connections that form.
“Obviously going into the season, you’ve seen a few of the pre-season games, how easily the girls fitted in.
“Viv came on and obviously scored the winning penalty in the first game, Aoba [Fujino] made a massive impact as well and so did many of the other girls.”
Gareth Taylor welcomed six new additions to his City squad this summer, though it will be a while before defender Risa Shimizu makes her debut for her new club after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament whilst on Olympic duty for Japan.
City came up just shy of denying Chelsea a fifth consecutive WSL title last season after the trophy came down to goal difference on the final day.
Second place, however, qualified them for the Champions League after missing out with a fourth-place domestic finish in 2022-23.
That campaign gets under way this evening when Hemp and her team-mates travel to France to play Paris FC for the first of two second-round legs.
City’s opponents are perhaps best known on British shores for knocking out Arsenal in last season’s qualifying stage before going on to shock Wolfsburg.
“[Advancing] is so important,” said Hemp. “I signed for City because I want to win trophies, and I believe this is a club that can go on to do that.
“We’ve got big ambitions to win this season across all of the competitions and it all starts with the first Champions League game.
“I think we’ve learned from previous years the difference that we need to make, and we’ve got so many experienced girls in the squad that have been in World Cup finals, Champions League at the later stages, and we know what it takes to win.”
Boss Gareth Taylor said: “We understand the challenges in front of us and it’s going to be tough, but not just in the Champions League, and I think [recruitment] is going to help us a lot.
“Towards the end of last season we lost key players and that strength in depth probably wasn’t there.
“We tried to fix that this summer, and probably have more attacking options towards the top end of the pitch to be able to change some game moments, but also personnel from time to time.
“I think the priority is trying to win the WSL, something we’ve only done once previously. We’ve come close.
“Of course the reward that comes with winning the WSL is going straight into the [Champions League] group stages.
“I think we’ve seen previously that it’s a really tough competition to get into the league stages, but we feel if we can get into it we will have a really good go in this competition.”
