NOS Football•
With experienced duo Shanice and Janice, PSV is making a serious bid for the national title
This weekend when the Eredivisie Women resume – today the top match is FC Twente-Ajax (2 p.m.) – we see a new and familiar face: Shanice van de Sanden (33). The former figurehead of the Dutch national team wants to lead PSV, which will face PEC Zwolle on Sunday, to the first national title in history as a winter purchase.
PSV also attracted another experienced player: 37-year-old Janice Cayman. The Belgian record international recently came over from Leicester City. The two purchases could give PSV that extra advantage over their main competitors Ajax and Twente in the title race, although the Eindhoven team has been without Aniek Nouwen for a long time due to a cruciate ligament injury.
Van de Sanden has to laugh when she is presented with the suggestion that PSV has bought the national title with her and Cayman. “Everyone can write whatever they want. We are going to give everything and if that is enough to stand with that bowl in our hands, then that can only be great.”
The championship race promises to be exciting. Ajax, Twente, PSV, Feyenoord and PEC Zwolle are still close to each other.
It has been exactly ten years since Van de Sanden left the Premier League for abroad. That adventure took her to the European top at Olympique Lyonnais and VfL Wolfsburg. Van de Sanden then also played in England and Mexico.
She looks back on that last adventure with great fondness. “It was fantastic: a great culture in a fun competition. I have enjoyed the past two years. There is a really big audience.”
In Mexico, Van de Sanden dropped out of the picture for the Dutch team, although she surprisingly appeared in the pre-selection for the European Championships in Switzerland last summer. She was ultimately left out of the final selection.
Gut feeling
The Utrecht resident says she has seen enough of the world. “At one point I had that gut feeling: I have to return to the Netherlands. I also discussed that with my family and they also said that I had to do what feels right. Then PSV came my way.”
The personal aspect also played a role in Cayman’s decision to leave England and seek it closer to home. “It’s nice to have family and friends closer to you.”
