Vivianne Miedema, the WSL’s all-time leading goalscorer, is set to leave Arsenal after a seven-year spell in north London that saw her break numerous records.
Miedema’s contract is expiring in June and, to the dismay of the Gunners’ fanbase, boss Jonas Eidevall opted not to renew it.
The Dutch striker, who has 79 WSL goals to her name, arrived in the English capital in 2017 but cemented her status as a legend in the following season, where her Golden Boot winning 22 goals drove Arsenal to their first WSL title since 2012.
Miedema’s prowess in front of goal almost single-handedly clinched the title in 2019 after the Gunners had frustratingly finished third for four consecutive years.
The 22 goals that she netted during that imposing season still remains the joint-record for the most in a single WSL campaign.
Rich Butler, 55, has followed the women’s game since the 1980s and now hosts a weekly podcast for fans which discusses all things Arsenal Women.
“It wasn’t just the goals,” Butler said. “It was everything else, she made it look so easy, so effortless.
“She was totally different to any other player at that time. She glided effortlessly around the pitch like an ice skater, and she was ice cold in front of goal as well.”
However, Miedema did not take her foot off the gas and, despite a third-placed finish in the 2019/20 season, she won a successive Golden Boot after finding the back of the net on 16 occasions.
“I don’t think anyone else has ever got close to her at her best, and the WSL has seen some great players,” Butler added.
“With the other players I’ve seen, and we’ve had many at Arsenal, I always felt they had to work so hard to be that good. But with Viv it felt so natural, all instinct.”
During the 2020/21 campaign, Arsenal struggled to keep up with pace-setters Chelsea, but it was early on in this season that Miedema became the league’s all-time top scorer – a record she has kept ever since.
Miedema scored more goals than her expected goals (xG) in these three successive WSL seasons, something that is extremely rare in top flight football.
“I’m not really surprised that she did,” Butler said.
“She scored goals that no other player could have scored and she often tried things no one else would have thought of trying.
“So many times she scored, and you would be in awe thinking ‘How did that go in?’.
“I must admit, I do miss the Viv of 2018-2021, it was a privilege to see her play for my club.”
Arsenal fans have berated boss Eidevall for not signing a new deal with the 27-year-old, but the Swede seems to think that his system will work better without her, and has chosen to extend fellow striker Stina Blackstenius’ contract instead.
Miedema has grappled with an ACL injury that has seen her sidelined for much of the past two seasons – only notching a total of six league appearances combined – and she may be past her peak.
“Personally, I feel we hadn’t seen the best of Viv for over two years anyway and, while this was due to her injury, she was nowhere near her best before that,” Butler said.
“The general feeling was shock and anger. Many people still want Jonas to leave and Viv to stay, but I don’t think that’s best for the club.
“Success is about a team effort, not just one player.”
Feature image credit: jamesboyes, via Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
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