The Brazil international moved to England in January, and is hoping to secure her first trophy with the Cityzens in Saturday's League Cup final

When GOAL asks Kerolin, Manchester City’s marquee signing in the January window, why she chose England as the next destination of her fruitful yet developing career, the Brazil international does not shy away from revealing her ambitious personality. “When I was looking at the list for the Ballon d’Or and things like that, I was looking where the players were playing,” she explains. “Most of them were here or in Spain.” And she wants to be on that list, right? “I want to be top of the list,” she replies. “It’s not going to be easy, but dreams are for that.”

The Women’s Super League has either been the most or second-most represented division on the list of nominees for the Ballon d’Or Feminin in each of the last four years, with players based in England ranking second in 2023 and 2022, and third in 2021. It’s a list that, despite her MVP season in the NWSL with the North Carolina Courage in 2023, Kerolin has never made. Although one of the best leagues in the world, the U.S. top-flight has often struggled to have representation at the awards, unless its stars enjoy big international success.

It's not Kerolin’s only reason for joining a team that is in Saturday’s League Cup final, next week’s Champions League quarter-finals and April's FA Cup semi-finals. She wants to win trophies, she wants to work with the best players and she wants to, in this new environment, be challenged in order to get better. What’s more, as she repeats several times, she wants to make history. Getting her hands on the Ballon d’Or would certainly do that.

Getty ImagesNew surroundings

Kerolin isn’t getting ahead of herself, though. She knows she has a lot of work to do. “Honestly, now, I just think I need to keep training and understand the league,” she says, asked what she believes she needs to do to be in the position to win something like the Ballon d’Or. “I’m really new here, so there are some differences between here and the NWSL.

“If I just be myself and try to help the team, get some assists and score goals, I know I could get there. Of course, more than that, be ready for the [national team] camps, for the next World Cup [in Brazil], it means a lot. I think it’s now just about building and getting ready for that. I’m not going to be surprised if it happens, because I’m working for that.”

AdvertisementGetty ImagesPlenty to adapt to

With eight appearances under her belt since that January move, Kerolin is starting to get more of an idea of what the style is like in England and how it differs to previous experiences in Brazil, Spain and the U.S. The physicality of the defending is something the flying winger is having to adapt to in particular, noting the need to “maybe do things early so they can’t come close to me”.

“Before I came here, Gabi Nunes was saying, 'I think you're going to be really good here because you're good at dribbling and normally, when you do a fake, people will believe you are going there',” she says, referring to a conversation with her Brazil team-mate who became Aston Villa's record signing last summer. “But when I came here, it wasn't like that! I said, 'Hey, Nunes, you said to me, it would be easy, but it's not! Come on.'”

It's not just the style of football that requires some adjustment, either. Kerolin’s admission that her mother is “scared” of the Manchester weather might prompt a hearty laugh from English reporters used to such conditions but, as the thick winter coat the 25-year-old has wrapped herself in shows, she is finding that “hard”, too. “Sometimes I'm asking myself, 'What am I doing here?'” she says, laughing. “I hope I really, really get what I want, because if not, I'm going to be really disappointed.”

Getty Images SportRough start

It's fair to say Kerolin’s first few weeks on the pitch have not been easy, either. Signing for the club only half a year after returning from an ACL tear, an injury players often say it takes months to feel like themselves again after, the forward arrived midway through Man City’s campaign and, having come from a league that plays between March and November, was thrown into action at a time when she’d normally be starting pre-season.

If that wasn’t enough to get her head around, City’s own circumstances have been tough. Defeats to Manchester United and Arsenal, followed by last week’s draw at West Ham, have thrown the Cityzens' chances of Champions League qualification into serious doubt, so much so that when Kerolin sits to speak ahead of this week's League Cup final, it is less than 24 hours since the club announced they had parted ways with head coach Gareth Taylor.

Getty ImagesTogether as a group

That decision, which included bringing back former boss Nick Cushing on an interim basis, presents a huge risk. It came only five days before that League Cup final, itself the first of four games in 12 days against Chelsea, the WSL leaders and reigning champions. “I’m really new, so it’s hard to say a lot about the coach,” she notes. “It is what it is. I just think now, we need to be together.”

Fortunately, her insight into life in Manchester so far suggests the team is very united ahead of a crucial part of the season. She cites captain Alex Greenwood as someone who, despite being sidelined since December, has really helped her settle, along with star striker Khadija Shaw, with whom she is striking up a good relationship on and off the pitch.

“I think in our mind right now, it's just like, 'Whatever happens, if it was with Gaz or not, we should be together, believe in the game plan and go for a trophy',” Kerolin adds. “I really believe in the group and we're going to be together to try and win the game.”