Kerstin Casparij: Manchester City full-back signs contract extension and talks about chasing Chelsea and holiday plans

Kerstin Casparij is excited for a serene and cosy Christmas in Manchester this year. She is thrilled to have officially signed her new and improved deal with Manchester City.

"It's been a long time coming but a nice early Christmas present," she tells , from the Joie Stadium, which she cheerily calls "home".

Casparij arrived from her native Netherlands in 2022, signed from Twente, in response to Lucy Bronze leaving for Barcelona the same summer. Then 22, the defender took some time to get acquainted with life in the north west as well as Man City's unique brand of fast-flowing football, but is now thriving in her settled surroundings.

"I've really settled into Manchester and I'm having a great time," she continues. "I'm not a big city girl, and Manchester doesn't feel like a big city, it's cosy. The people are incredibly nice, which I hear is a northern thing.

"I'm enjoying my time at the club. The values the club have really align with me and who I am as a person, but also on a football level, I've grown so much here."

Casparij has played every minute of Man City's Women's Super League campaign this season, as Gareth Taylor's side trail champions Chelsea by six points in the table. The full-back, dependable on either flank, has contributed two assists while showing her talent in possession, boasting a passing accuracy of 90.2 per cent.

Her final-third pass ratio - she's completed 140 - is the third-best of any defender in the league, and it's that willingness to spring forward and join attacks that makes Man City so dangerous from wide positions.

City's emphasis on ball retention is also a big reason why Casparij is thriving. As a team, they are averaging close to 70 per cent of possession this season, the highest share of any team in the league's history. But it's not all fun and fanciful.

To challenge for the WSL title in 2024-25 Man City must close a substantial six-point gap to leaders Chelsea, and failed to capitalise on their slip against Leicester this weekend by losing disappointingly to Everton for the first time in 17 meetings.

"Chelsea are an incredibly strong team and unfortunately we haven't made use of them dropping points, which is frustrating," Casparij says. "But football is like that, they will drop points and we will too. The big things for us is not to get distracted by them, we have to focus on ourselves."

Closing out the calendar year positively is now the chief aim. Man City travel to Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday, hoping to cap 2024 with another memorable win over their Catalonian counterparts, to add to the statement 2-0 scalp they delivered in the reverse fixture in early October.

"We're confident, feeling good. It's great to travel to Barcelona and it's an incredible fixture to finish the calendar year on. Hopefully it will be a bit warmer than here, I can't wait for a bit of vitamin D. It's been a busy schedule, but we want to play in Europe and go deep in every competition."

Away from football, Casparij's Christmas plans are a little different this year as she celebrates recently buying a property by inviting her family to enjoy the holiday period in the UK for the first time. Besides early morning training sessions - which are non-negotiable over the winter hiatus - what else does the winter break offer Man City's marauding full-back?

"I'm looking forward to having my family time. We have a generous amount of time off, the club are good at recognising when we need a break, but obviously we can't sit still. I get up early to train.

"I'm staying in Manchester this year, and my family are coming here, so I'll be showing them around and cooking Christmas dinner. We bought a property and have enough room to host so we've invited everyone. I cook and my partner is the baker, so between us we can cover every aspect of a Christmas dinner."

Casparij's growth, rewarded with a contract until summer 2027, is a prime example of Man City's direction. They have been in the building phase for a number of seasons and now is the time for some of that regeneration to come to fruition.

Working out how they catch Chelsea in the final sprint between January and May must be viewed as the biggest priority of all.