CASEY STONEY JOINS THE BALL IS ROUND

Now, Arsenal is one of the few teams whose men's and women's programs are both world class.

You having spent a lot of time there, both as a youth player and as a senior player, how have you seen, at least from the outside now, how have you seen the club from the women's side evolve and grow into one of the powerhouses in the world and also, you know, one of the bigger clubs in England?

I think when I joined Arsenal back in 99, I think it was 98, 99, like they were the biggest team in England at the time, albeit not professional and just part-time, but still were the team that were winning all the trophies.

Obviously as the, The league evolved, became more professionalized, like Chelsea started to win a lot of trophies and now Arsenal have kind of like started to peg back a little bit.

Obviously, Manchester United came into the fold and obviously I know London City are now coming in.

But I look at Arsenal, I'm like, I think they set the bar on so many things when it comes to like playing at the Emirates and the amount of tickets they sell and the constant fan base they have.

I think they really engage their fan base.

I think they sign really exciting players, global talent that brings fans in as well.

They play an exciting style.

And obviously, listen, we've got Olivia there.

So it's great for us that Olivia is playing in a really good environment around world-class players in Champions League and league games consistently because it's going to help her develop.

Now, I know that when Olivia signed, probably the Arsenal fan in you was probably very excited.

What was kind of your reaction when it was confirmed that she was moving?

I think obviously you always want your players in the best environment for themselves in terms of competing.

I knew she'd be with a good coach around world-class players in a good environment.

And I knew that.

I think I obviously had concerns around the price tag and the pressure that that would put on such a young person and the expectations that come with that price tag, even though she's so young, I'm like, she's going to have ups and downs.

She's a young player.

And I was just concerned that that didn't get to her, but she adapted really quickly.

She took to it really well and obviously had a really good season.