Arsenal legend Vivianne Miedema bids farewell to the club

Arsenal Women have announced the departure of striker Vivianne Miedema. Becoming a club legend, her seven-year journey with the Gunners will come to a close at the end of the 23/24 season.

Miedema moved to Arsenal from Bayern Munich in 2017 and has scored 125 goals and provided 50 assists for the club in 172 appearances. Her impact on Arsenal has been massive; however, it can be understood that the club did not offer her a contract renewal.

Miedema has had an unarguably very successful career at Arsenal, though her 22/23 season was unfortunate. The forward was a victim of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear epidemic at the club. Miedema tore her ACL in December 2022, in a UEFA Champion’s League match against Olympique Lyonnais Féminin. This was only a month after her teammate and partner, Beth Mead, had suffered the same injury.

The injury saw Miedema in recovery and on the bench for 10 months. She made her return in October 2023 away at Bristol City in the Barclays Women’s Super League (WSL). Since then, she has only made 14 appearances and five starts for the Gunners. Scoring just the one goal against Liverpool in January, Miedema has been plagued with minor knee injuries ever since which has minimised her game time.

However, on Saturday, in a Miedema-style exit, she scored one last goal in the final game of the season against Brighton & Hove

However, on Saturday, in a Miedema-style exit, she scored one last goal in the final game of the season against Brighton & Hove. To add to the perfection of this final game, it was her first touch of the match that saw her slot the ball into the bottom corner, and the assist came from Beth Mead.

Notably Miedema saw Arsenal win the WSL title in the 18/19 season, and three League Cups. She is well known for being the all-time top goal scorer in the WSL with 80 goals next to her name, and two Golden Boot awards for the most goals scored in a season.

And now this already impressive list of honours has potential to be added to further. The striker is officially a free agent and could prove to be an extremely valuable player for a host of other WSL clubs. It’s rumoured that Manchester City Women are interested, the team who fell short of winning the WSL title this season and who will be a key rival for Arsenal next season after their drought in title wins.

In her leaving letter entitled ‘So long, Arsenal’, Miedema thanked the fans: “Thank you for making this club so special. It’s been amazing to follow your journey too. To go from a half-full stadium at Borehamwood FC, to selling out the Emirates is something we all dreamed of.”

This is especially relevant as Arsenal Women have announced the majority of their Barclays WSL games and UEFA Champions League games next season will be played at the Emirates after such high attendances.

She further thanked her teammates saying that: “Being part of this group of players over the years has always inspired me to be the best I can be.”

Miedema closed her letter with the following: “For now it’s time to move on. My time at Arsenal will be forever with me and I’m grateful for all the special memories.”