When Arsenal face London City Lionesses on Sunday lunchtime, Gunners boss Renee Slegers will be up against her former international teammate and good friend Danielle van de Donk, who played for Arsenal with great distinction from 2015 until 2021, winning a WSL title, an FA Cup and two Conti Cups before departing for Lyon.
Previously, van de Donk admitted to ‘looking up to’ Slegers as a player when they joined forces in the Netherlands midfield. But their history goes back even further than that. ‘She’s been out with a knee injury for quite a while, but she’s back now. I’m happy for her, of course, you wish for every football player to be fit and it’s good for the women’s game as well to have as many fit players in the game. We have a lot of good players that are active and a lot of star names and that helps the development of football.
‘I loved to play with Danielle. We’ve known each other for a very, very long time. We grew up and we’ve been in that phase of women’s football in the Netherlands together when the semiprofessional league started, we started to play at Willem II and play together. She’s a very fiery player on the pitch, aggressive, wants to win and can make use of the dark arts if you will!
‘She knows how to manage the game and be smart. She’s a lovely person. We come from the same area in the Netherlands, very close to each other, 10, 15 minutes away. It will be great to see her and I am happy she is back fit.’ Another player Slegers knows well is LCL winger Freya Godfrey, who joined the club from Arsenal last summer having also enjoyed loan spells at Ipswich Town and Charlton Athletic.
Slegers is pleased with the Gunners academy product’s progress since departing and says she worked very closely with Godfrey in her previous role as a player development coach. ‘I’m really happy to see her progress. I’m in touch with Freya every now and then. So when she was selected for England for the first time, for example, I sent her a message. I worked with her when she was out on loan during my firsst year as an assistant coach here at Arsenal.
‘I did reviews with her and some close work with her and I’m really happy with where she’s at and also proud of her, because things aren’t always easy for young players. She’s had a journey with loans and different challenges on the way, but she’s been strong and if you look at how she’s playing now, I think you see all her super strengths playing out. She is fast, she’s a dribbler. She can finish, right left foot.
‘She’s playing really well for them and I think it’s great to see. And, of course, it’s always hard decisions with squad composition, we have four wide forwards that are top class as well. Every player has different pathways and take different routes but we are really happy for Freya that she is where she is in her own development now.’