Manchester City head coach Andrée Jeglertz praised striker Khadija Shaw for maintaining her focus amid speculation about her future, after she scored the opening goal in the Women's FA Cup final to help her side secure a 4-0 victory over Brighton at Wembley. The win completed a historic Double for City.
Shaw's Professionalism Amid Contract Uncertainty
Shaw, who signed a four-year contract on Monday after previously being set to leave City this summer, has been in outstanding form in recent weeks. She scored the winning goal in the Cup quarter-final in April, the winner in the semi-final at Chelsea in May, and opened the scoring in Sunday's final with a header from Alex Greenwood's cross.
“I’m very impressed how she handled that,” Jeglertz said, referring to the persistent stories linking Shaw with Chelsea since March. “She has never shown any kind of mood that has affected her performance. Of course, she is a person, like everybody else, so she will know about all the writing, but she has been so professional all the time, always performed and always been a positive person.”
Team-Mates Applaud Shaw's Resilience
City defender Rebecca Knaak also praised Shaw, who made a dramatic U-turn to stay at City after multiple sources indicated she had decided to leave. “Massive respect to Bunny. It’s not been easy for her. There’s been a lot of noise in the background. It’s quite hard as a player to still focus, and that’s exactly what she did. She’s always turned up in all the games for us. She’s so important for us and I’m just incredibly happy that she’s staying.”
Brighton's Missed Opportunities
Brighton, playing in their first Wembley final, had more possession and 12 shots to City's 14 but ultimately fell to a heavy defeat. Head coach Dario Vidosic praised his side's bravery but acknowledged the need for improvement.
“We can gain a lot of confidence now, not just from today, but also from the previous weeks, with what we’ve been able to do against some really, really good teams,” Vidosic said. “This will hurt for a little while, but hopefully we can use that motivation and that fire for next season.”
Brighton's Summer Plans
Brighton finished seventh in the Women's Super League and knocked Arsenal out of the Cup. Vidosic emphasized the importance of retaining key players and strengthening the squad. “To build, you need to have that core together, so they can keep working, keep learning and keep growing together. I think it is important that we keep as many as we can together. And then we just start to bring in some other areas that we’ll look to strengthen.”
The club has already begun recruitment, with a couple of signings expected to be announced soon. “I’m sure it’ll be a fairly busy summer again,” Vidosic added.
