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.