Caroline Weir opens up on future amid Real Madrid links as Man City contract runs down

“I always dreamed of being a professional footballer, I thought I would play for Real Madrid one day.”

Caroline Weir, the Scotland and Manchester City midfielder, may yet find her words to be eerily prophetic. Out of contract at the end of this season, there has been significant chatter in Spanish media circles about a move to Real Madrid this summer. Inevitably coy on the matter going into the final games of the English Women’s Super League season, Weir would only confirm that her long-term future has offered significant food for thought.

Telling, though, was the career goals that cannot be achieved in an individual context but rather can only be realised in a particular environment.

“I want to win a league title, I want to be competing for a Champions League,” said the inaugural Glen’s SFWA Scottish Women’s Player of the Year. “They are team goals and then I have individual goals that I set myself every season to try and achieve. I feel I am in a good moment physically. I am not a young player any more. I have a bit of experience behind me and it is about pushing my level and constantly trying to improve. City has been a great platform for me to do that over the last few years and I want to keep pushing on.

“I’ve given it a little bit of thought because when you’re running out of contract it’s on your mind and you start to weigh up your options. There’s still a lot of important football to be played so my mind isn’t really thinking about off the pitch rumours. My head is just on City for the next few weeks and we’ll see what happens in the summer.

“It’s flattering [to be linked with Real Madrid] because they’re a massive club. That’s the way the game is, there’s lots of attention on it and people want to know what