The arrival of Park marked a successful summer of recruitment following the earlier signings of Fridolina Rolfo from Barcelona and Julia Zigiotti Olme from Bayern Munich. It was also a very deliberate change in strategy, as Johnson explains on the podcast.
“It’s a really important balance [of youth and experience] within the squad. What we did 12 months ago, we moved on a lot of older players and we brought in a lot of younger players. People like Anna Sandberg came in 12 months ago who was only 20 years old, we got Simi Awujo at a similar age. So, last year, we brought in five or six really young players who we knew had potential and could grow.
“We felt this year, going into the Champions League and having performed so well last year, we needed to bring in players with a little bit more experience but also knowledge of playing in big environments. If you look at Jess with the Lionesses and Man City, having played in the Champions League, she brought that as well as the qualities and profile we were looking at.
“Julia has played with Bayern Munich in the Champions League and made over 50 appearances for Sweden, and the same for Fridolina. She has been in the Champions League since she was a teenager, is one of the most-capped players in the Champions League and has won it both with German clubs and Spanish clubs.
