Manchester United midfielder Simi Awujo says the club want to be ‘firing on all cylinders’ ahead of the 2024/25 WSL season.
Simi Awujo signed for Manchester United, the club she has always been a fan of, last year.
The Halfway Line sat down with the 21-year-old for an exclusive interview to look back at her first year as a professional footballer, as well as looking ahead to the upcoming Women’s Super League (WSL) season.
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Jayde Riviere is someone I can lean on says Awujo
When Awujo joined Manchester United, she came fresh from the University of Southern California. Luckily for her, her compatriot Jayde Riviere did the same thing just the year before, and became someone she could lean on.
“Me and Jayde had been on the national team together for about two years, maybe under two years before I came here,” Awujo said. “So we did sort of have that sort of relationship, and us being within the same age range as well. That was someone that I did hang out with in camps as well.
“So I did seek a lot of guidance from her. I think, having someone that understands the situation that you’re in, and has been in a similar situation, she helped me a lot.
“She helped me to kind of understand, expectations of myself, of other people, to be able to help me be a little bit more realistic with my learning and my growth. She was a friend to lean on.”
Awujo has ‘learnt a lot tactically’ at Manchester United
When asked about the expectations she put on herself, Awujo spoke on the adjustments she has had to face since her arrival at United.
“When you come from college, you’re like, one of the best players,” Awujo reflected. “But coming here, obviously, you have a bunch of people that are world class players and play for their national teams.
“And we do the same, it’s also recognising that some people have been playing for 10 years longer than you have, or even people that are your age, have been playing in a professional league for years more than you have.
“So just kind of being realistic in terms of that curve of growth and knowing that it’s going to be a little bit more steady, it’s not going to just be a spike, and just kind of giving myself a little bit more grace in times of when it was hard or when I was finding things difficult.”
Coming from a college environment to playing in a professional league is no mean feat. It is not just a tough transition mentally, as illustrated by the expectations Awujo has had to manage of herself, but also physically and tactically.
“I would say that I learned a lot tactically just in terms of practical principles, body shape, just little things like that that I may have overlooked, that are actually really important in this league, especially when you have players that are so technically gifted but also so intelligent on and off the ball. There’s a lot to be thinking about.
“I would say this league has definitely challenged me to think a lot more while playing, and not even like overthink, but to just like be able to analyse and be more aware of the situation that’s at hand, or what can happen or what can unfold afterwards, which is something that I don’t think that I experienced as much in college.”
When asked about aspects of her game she still feels needs improvement, Awujo answers like a true pro that is never done learning.
“I think no matter what age that I want to play the sport, I think there’s always something that I can develop. There’s always something that can be better.
“I would say for me, being a little bit more clinical, like given goal scoring opportunities, making sure I’m putting them away.”
Awujo was very clinical with the goal she scored against Liverpool in their pre-season friendly. Awujo presses the defender, gets the ball off her and scores in a 1v1 with the goal keeper. When told that she was very clinical with that goal, Awujo laughs and says: “it was hard to miss from that angle!”
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United midfield competition pushes us to be the best players we can be
Awujo missed a large part of the second half of last season because of an injury she was nursing throughout the season.
“Yeah that was definitely hard,” Awujo reflected. ” It was a little bit more frustrating because I went to camp [Canada], I wanted to play there, and then I got injured.
“So not being able to play for a little bit was definitely frustrating. Especially in the Canadian environment where, I guess that was somewhere that I was used to, because I was new to this club and I have been on the Canadian team for a while.”
Looking ahead to the new season, Awujo faces extra competition in midfield in the form of Julia Zigiotti Olme, who has moved to Manchester from Bayern Munich. Awujo tells us she doesn’t necessarily see it as competition.
“I think our team is a very close knit team,” Awujo said. “Obviously, we are all here to play, we’re all here to compete for our spots, but at the end of the day, all that competition is going to do is all push us all to be the best players that we can be, and I think that’s super important.
“We have so many competitions this this year, you know, hopefully we win, and we’re in the Champions League, we’re going to have a lot more games.
“So this sort of competitiveness that pushes us to be the best players that we can be is going to be necessary so that we can get the best out of our team in each game, in each division, each competition. So, competitive? I guess you could say it’s competition, but it’s also another challenge and an opportunity to grow and to get better.”
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Manchester United ready to compete across all four competitions, says Awujo
Manchester United finished the 2024/25 season in third place, having finished fifth the year before and second in their record-breaking 2022/23 campaign. Awujo says the side are ready for the new test, and expects Manchester United to be back at their best once more.
“I think a successful season for us is we’re in Champions League, and we’re firing on all cylinders in the league as well as the domestic cups. We’re putting our best foot forward in all the games that we have, and we can kind of replicate the success that we had last season, if not trump that.
“I think a big part of what we’re trying to do here now is to win the league. So that is what success looks like. I think you ask any team, success is winning, and especially us, now that we’ve gone to Champions League, we’ve finished third by a point like we want, we want more now, and we will work for that.”
Awujo wants to take the experience she gained in her first professional season to her second for the club.
‘For me personally, it’s just about now that this is my second year showing the learnings that I gained within my first year and the games that I played, and being able to just approach this season with a little bit more composure and confidence, as well as some sort of wisdom.”
Manchester United play PSV in the UEFA Women’s Champions League qualification next week. Should they win, they play either Hammarby or Metalist Kharkiv for a chance to proceed to the next round of qualification. They open their WSL campaign on the 7th of September, at home against Leicester City.