Manchester City want to be “the number one club in England”, says the Women’s Super League team’s new director of football, Nils Nielsen.
The former Denmark and Switzerland women’s head coach was appointed this month.
The 51-year-old said his role will be to “bridge the gap” by taking the initiative in player recruitment and taking charge of coach and player development.
“We want to be back on top and back to winning ways,” Nielsen said.
City last won the WSL in 2016 and have failed to make it out of the Champions League qualifying groups for the past two seasons, and Nielsen said the club are “a bit behind the best teams” in the country.
“We have to catch up with this and that means we have to act in the short term. There are some things that need to be sorted out immediately and some that we can take a bit longer to resolve,” he said.
“We have very talented young players. We have a lot of potential but we need a bit more consistency.”
Nielsen took Denmark to the Women’s Euro final in 2017 where they missed out on the Netherlands, coached by current England boss Sarina Wiegman.
He then led Switzerland to Euro 2022 where his side finished third in Group C behind the Netherlands and Sweden.
But the Dane said it was an easy decision to move from head coach to a behind-the-scenes role.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, so when I got the opportunity at a big club like this, I didn’t really think about it,” he said.
City are fourth in the WSL, level on points with Arsenal but outside the Champions League places on goal difference.
But Nielsen doesn’t think European qualification will affect their recruitment this summer.
“Even if we finish fourth this season, that doesn’t mean we have to close the club. I hope the players can see the big picture and see that the club isn’t changing because we have a year where we don’t. not play Champions League,” he said.
“We will always try to choose the same players that we are considering at the moment, regardless of the Champions League.”
Nielsen is also keen to ‘integrate’ the academy so that it becomes ‘more normal’ for players from youth formations to play in the first team.
