Greenwood joins England team-mate Lucy Bronze in signing for Manchester City from Lyon
Wednesday 9 September 2020 15:13, UK
Alex Greenwood has signed for Manchester City from Champions League winners Lyon on a three-year deal, the Women's Super League club announced on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old defender, who began her career at Everton and played for Liverpool between 2016 and 2018, captained Manchester United to the FA Women's Championship crown in 2019 before joining Lyon last summer.
The England international, who has followed her Lionesses team-mate Lucy Bronze to Manchester, was part of the Lyon team that lifted the Champions League trophy in August, but says the time is right to start a new chapter in her home country.
"I think I've come back to England at a perfect time," Greenwood told Sky Sports. "The league's going from strength to strength. The players who are coming over speaks for itself and I'm really excited to be a part of it.
"For me it's about winning trophies. [Manchester City's] ambitions and my ambitions went hand in hand.
"I'm realistic, I know that we've got a few new faces, but this club's about winning and the history speaks for itself.
"Domestically they've won trophies every single season and I'm coming in to continue that, and hopefully that starts this season."
Greenwood described winning the Champions League as "the best day of my life", and is determined to help bring the title as well as its prestige to her new club.
"I left on an unbelievable high at Lyon, a fantastic end to my time there," she said. "I loved every minute of it and I learned so much about myself as a person and a player.
"[It's] a day I want to relive all over again. If I can do that in Man City Blue... it would be unbelievable to do it for a team in my own country."
Greenwood says it's important for Manchester City to have the belief that they are capable of being the best team in the world.
"We've got to be comfortable talking in that language and saying that we're going to compete and win," she said. "I think it's healthy.
"At Lyon that's the only way we spoke and if I took anything from my time there, it was just about winning and a winning mentality.
"I've come back with a confidence to City to say 'I want to win the Champions League, I want to win the WSL, I want to win the FA Cup, I want to win every trophy that's available'.
"I don't say that without having confidence in doing it - that's exactly why I came here."
Playing alongside Bronze for Lyon and England - as well as others in the international setup - has given the Manchester City dressing room a feeling of familiarity for Greenwood.
"It makes life a lot easier when you know the dressing room and you know the players," she said. "I know how they work, I know how they play. I know them as people, not just players.
"I've spent the last 12 months in a dressing room with Lucy every day and I've played with her for a number of years now at England.
"So I feel like I walked in the changing room and I'd always been there; really comfortable and easy for me to settle in.
"But you know it's only early days. We've got a lot of football to play and I'm looking forward to playing with this team."
