InterviewYana Daniels: Liverpool is my second home – I'm so happy to be staying
The Belgium international has penned fresh terms at the club and is looking forward to the third season of her second spell with the Reds.
Having previously played for Liverpool in 2018-19, Daniels spent the next two campaigns with Bristol City Women before being reunited with Matt Beard – who she played under at Bristol City – on Merseyside in the summer of 2021.
And she is relishing the task ahead as Beard’s squad strive to better their seventh-placed finish in the Barclays Women’s Super League last term.
After finalising her contract extension, Daniels sat down with Liverpoolfc.com to discuss her decision to stay – watch the interview below or read on for a transcript.
Yana, congratulations on your new deal. How does it feel to be extending your stay with Liverpool FC Women?
Yeah, really good. I always enjoyed it here and also with Matt I know what he wants and I can really find [identify] with his way of playing, so I’m really happy to stay.
You’re now going into the third season of your second spell here – how much has the club and the city come to mean to you?
A lot, it’s a second home now. I bought a house here, I’m really settled and I’m happy here. And also where the club is going, it’s nice to be part of a future project, so I’m really looking forward to it.
What is it about the future that excites you?
Well, we have our own training complex and that’s something you dream of as a little kid, to have your own accommodations and the best pitches that you can have. It all comes back to us now.
We’re heading into the club’s second season back in the WSL, what do you think of the team’s ambitions for 2023-24?
I think last season we had ups and downs but overall we finished really good, coming from a league below. But we are still not happy while we did actually alright, so you can feel the ambition is really big for the club and for us players as well. So we definitely want to do better than last season and finish as high as we can.
And what are your personal goals for the season?
I’m quite a versatile player, so I just want to help the team in any position possible and to cover where I need to. I like to play on the wing or full-back or on top of the No.9, so depending what game it is I just want to be important in certain aspects.
Pre-season training has begun now, so what are your first impressions of the six new signings who have arrived this summer?
There are quite a few new faces so it takes a while that you get to know each other but the first sessions were really good and impressive, so it’s nice to have some good, quality players in the squad.
Finally, you have a strong connection with the fans, so are you happy to continue playing for them too?
Yeah, of course. You can see over the years the fans have grown a lot and you see the same faces coming again and again, so I think [it’s important] to keep them close and it helps us a lot during games to push us. Also the [number of] travelling fans for away games gets bigger and bigger, so it’s really great to see what it means to them, but also it means a lot to us.