Man City's WSL record signing got better of Dutch men's international stars
Manchester City paid £300,000 to make Jill Roord the most expensive player in the WSL - but the Dutch midfielder learned her trade alongside male stars Tijjani Reijnders and Sam Beukema.
Roord was such a talent when she was a 15-year-old coming through the ranks at FC Twente, that coaches instructed her to play in the boys’ Under-16s side because strict regulations meant she was too young to be picked for the club’s senior women’s team. One of her team-mates was Reijnders, the AC Milan star who cost the Italian club £20million last summer and now partners Barcelona playmaker Frenkie de Jong in Holland’s midfield.
Another was Beukema, a centre-back who joined serie A club Bologna in July for £7million. Roord did not look out of place. Beukema recalls: “Jill was the only girl in the entire national league, but she soon gained the respect of the whole group when it turned out she could handle the level effortlessly.
“I don't know how many times she played the ball through an opponent’s legs. One time we lost 4-1 away at AZ Alkmaar and (Dutch internationals) Teun Koopmeiners and Calvin Stengs played for them. The academy director of Twente was there and when he took the floor in the dressing room afterwards, he said ‘you all played like girls, except Jill. She played like a guy!”
Roord quickly progressed into Twente’s women’s team when she came of age - before moving to Bayern Munich and then Arsenal. After a spell with Wolfsburg, the 26-year-old was snapped up by City in the summer.
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Jill Roord is the most expensive player in the Women's Super League (MI News/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)Roord said: “Women's football is quite a bit behind men's football when it comes to transfers, but it is developing. Transfers to a top club have become more difficult than five years ago.
“Growing up, I only played in boys' teams. It was only when I was selected for the Netherlands’ national side at Under-16 level that I played in a team with other girls for the first time. Until then, I had no idea about women's football. Tijjani was exceptionally good. He was always the big talent, the best player in our team. People really looked at him that way.
“But he was also very small and I think they thought that was a problem at FC Twente. I still text Sam from time to time, especially if something interesting happens. Of course, I congratulated him on his transfer to Bologna.”
Roord, who has won 96 caps for Holland, helped her country become European champions in 2017. Her father, Rene, played for FC Twente in the Eredivisie before moving into coaching. But her two brothers both failed to make the grade.
She added: “People sometimes joked about that to my father. They said ‘you have two sons, but it is the girl in particular who has talent.’ Ironically, my brothers could play football quite well.”
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