According to Flo Lloyd Hughes of the Athletic, Arsenal striker Vivianne Miedema is closing in on a one-year contract extension with Arsenal. (£) Flo reports that content was filmed today at Emirates Stadium ahead of an announcement later in the week.
The Dutch forward, who holds the record for WSL goals, has been the subject of intense speculation with her current deal expiring on 30 June. Miedema is settled in London, owns her property and very much enjoys playing in the WSL but aspires to win the Champions League.
Essentially Viv’s choice boils down to joining Barcelona and almost certainly winning the UWCL but playing in a domestic league where Barcelona wins every game easily. Barca have won all 29 of their league games so far this season with a +147 goal difference. Miedema is on record as saying she wants to play in a competitive league.
Ultimately, Miedema has been weighing up whether she thinks that Arsenal can compete to win the biggest prize in women’s football having not won a trophy since they won the league in 2019. They finished one point behind Chelsea in the table this season.
1 year extension to see how things pan out at Arsenal. Just a prediction though.
— Tim Stillman (@Stillberto) March 30, 2022
For my part, I was told back in March that a one-year extension was the most likely outcome with the 25-year-old effectively delaying her final verdict on whether she can aspire to win the UWCL in North London, where she is settled. However, as the weeks drifted past without an announcement, I assumed things had changed. It was also suggested to me that an announcement was likely this week but I wasn’t told which way that announcement would fall.
We will await final confirmation but the information Flo has is very specific and lines up with some of the things I had been told.
assuming she does sign the extension, and we win the league this season (and possibly have a much better run in the uwcl; ideal scenario i know), is it possible she will stay for longer?
In that scenario i’d say yes; she wants to win trophies and be competitive in the Champions League and it appears her ideal scenario would be to do that with Arsenal. But i think winning the WSL next year is a must if we want her to stay longer, coupled with clear improvement from this year’s showing in the Champions League.
Agree, but Wolfsburg newly beat Barcelona, and Arsenal are more than capable of beating Wolfsburg – so we too can beat Barcelona!
Arsenal weren’t even remotely competitive with Barca–it was embarrassing–and got bossed pretty badly by Wolfsburg in the recent second leg. I find this fixation by European players on the (bloated) CL tourney a bit over the top, and I can’t see Arsenal with a serious chance of winning it next year or soon, but one never knows (that’s about as optimistic as I can get). I don’t think Miedema has/had that many options. Joining Barca wouldn’t make that club much better than it already is–and it is great now–and dominating the Spanish league would be boring. Lyon already has its… Read more »
I so hope this is true! It’d make a lot of sense!
If Viv M does sign an extension, it’ll be great news for the Arsenal Women, as they would seriously struggle to replace the sheer amount of goals that she scores.
Let’s hope that this happens.
Not to mention she has the same amount of assists as Mead this season. She’s a one of a kind. She can’t be replaced and Arsenal know that. They went to the very last minute to keep ahold of Viv for a little longer because they know they can’t get a like for like. But Lisa Evans has played a huge factor in this decision for Viv.
only 25, would love to see her winning trophies and staying for many years. Great player!!!
Lisa Evans will have an important part to play in this decision. Is an extension of her loan to West Ham likely, or could it become a permanent move?
Lisa’s Arsenal contract is up and she will move on.
wouldn’t be the first couple to play in different countries.
Fabulous news – Champion’s League contenders next season for sure now 🙂
Assuming she does sign of course!
Everything crossed!
I can totally see why Viv would hesitate about joining Barca – she likes a challenge.
Barcelona in the Iberdrola league have no competitors at all, is like shooting a fish inside a bucket, the real challenge for Barcelona is champions league, maybe that disappointed Viv a little bit and she decide stay in a more competitive league with emotions the whole season and reinforcing some aspects, Arsenal can do better in champions league next year.
Thank you Flo!
Great news and I honestly believe Viv will be happier with Arsenal.
At this point Tim has mentioned every scenario and can literally pull an old tweet to support whatever outcome there is. Even before the 21/22 season started, he believed this was Miedema’s final season with Arsenal.
Yes I thought she would go. That wasn’t based on info, that was my prediction / gut feeling. I have been very clear that I’m not breaking this story, Flo is. I didn’t have enough to ‘break’ it and my decision not to was justified. If I’d written a story based on what I was told in March it would’ve been premature, clearly.
I think you misunderstood what I was saying, you also predicted that she would sign a one year contract even before March. I think It was on a podcast with Pippa Monique.
I wasn’t questioning your credibility or anything, was just pointing out that you’re also a fan that goes through the motions like everyone else. Love reading your articles and never missed an episode of the podcast.
Finally, how excited are you about not having to cut yourself rushing through preparation for a zoom call?
👍 apologies!
I mentioned that scenario on the March pod, it was at that point I’d been told a one year extension was the most likely outcome. O e scenario I never covered was her signing another long-term deal, don’t think that was ever in the offing!
https://twitter.com/beuratafia/status/1522919092994383873?s=21&t=7wK-ye8utoBgEOlDntFJVg
As a further rejoinder, there’s the tweet where I said an announcement this week is likely.
When it appeared Chelsea might drop points against Man United on Sunday the team looked very nervous. Miedema looked the most calm and composed when the pressure was on in a potentially title-deciding game. Glad if they manage to keep her another year.
Wants assurances the club aspires to win the biggest trophies and will put together a team to compete at the top, scores loads of goals with a few worldies on the highlight reel, and likes an assist, too. . .
Just how much does VM remind us of RvP?
Fantastic player and the club should be doing their utmost to match her ambition to get back to the top (while it remains comparatively inexpensive to do so).
It is the hope that kills.
Anyway, i think whatever happens, we need a playmaker since it doesnt look like iwabuchi is trusted, nor nobbs (even without her injury).
Imo, regardless of what happens with miedema, foord or maritz, we are short on 2 midfielders and 2 attackers (unless a miracle happens with parris, nobbs and iwabuchi in terms of their form or eidevall trusting then)
We need at least one CB more too, I was thinking in bring back Loise Quinn.
Agree: Arsenal’s midfield needs to be much stronger. That we have to play the league’s best goal-scorer in midfield is telling.
Wow
Viv is an important member of the team and we need her. I would love to see her teaming up with Lisa Evans once more as they worked so well together in the past. Lisa has made excellent contributions to West Ham and having her back in the fold would be of enormous benefit to the team. If you thought that this year’s campaign was tough, be warned, next season will be even tougher with both City and United closing in on the top. The team needs as much depth as it can afford for next season’s campaign.
Can’t see Lisa getting a new contract. She probably signs permanently with West Ham if Konchesky likes what his seen of her. Club just announced Maritz signed a new deal which is good
If she signs I’m gonna buy her next seasons jersey
@Tim
Hope is fading, Tim. If you can, please give us some good news on this, or any news, really.