A deadline day signing in the summer of 2022, the Japanese international has transformed into one of the finest defensive midfielders in world football during her time at the Joie Stadium.
Included in the 2022/23 PFA Team of the Season and the 2023 Ballon d’Or shortlist, Hasegawa has become a focal point for Gareth Taylor’s side over the past 18 months.
Speaking about her contract extension, she said: “I am extremely happy. I couldn’t be happier.
“One of the biggest reasons I’ve extended is the football style. I love our style. I want to win the league, Champions League and Cup, that’s why I decided to stay here.
“We’ve improved this year and we have built up a lot. I’m so excited because we have a chance to win the league and the cup. I really want to win the league. I want to play in the Champions League, and I want to win it with City.
“The people are nice, the football is good, I’m so happy to be here!”
Head Coach Gareth Taylor added: “We’re really pleased that Yui has extended her stay with the Club.
“She’s been top class from the minute she’s come here. She does so much without the ball, her anticipation is second-to-none and her quality under pressure is very high.
“The impact she has had on and off the pitch is clear to see and we are very happy that Yui will be here until 2027.
“She’s a great girl to work with who has been massively accepted by the rest of the group and is really popular, and we’re looking forward to seeing what more she can achieve here at City. She’s an incredible talent.”
Director of Football Nils Nielsen continued: “We’re very happy that Yui will be here until 2027.
“She is an outstanding footballer, and her technical ability and way she reads the game is second to none.
“For me, Yui is one of the best number sixes in the world and I’m looking forward to seeing what more she can achieve here at City in the coming years.”
Midfield Metronome
Yui Hasegawa had already made herself known to her new City team-mates before a dream debut against Leicester City in October 2022.
In the previous campaign, she’d completed a surprise 2-0 win for West Ham United at the Joie Stadium with an audacious chip over Karima Taieb, having already set up Dagny Brynjarsdottir for the game’s opening goal.
The Japanese international had shone for the Hammers in an advanced role, even grabbing the WSL’s Goal of the Month award on two separate occasions in her solitary season at the club.
Bringing Hasegawa to City, therefore, looked like a smart piece of business. But given her obvious attacking qualities and diminutive stature, the decision to play her at the base of our midfield, filling the sizeable void left behind by the departing Keira Walsh, may have raised a few eyebrows.
But Gareth Taylor’s subtle tweak has seen the 26-year-old become one of the finest ‘number sixes’ not only in the WSL, but in world football.
A goal on her debut in a 4-0 win over Leicester City set the tone for what the midfielder has already described as a ‘special’ 18 months at the Joie Stadium.
Such was the speed of her adaptation that, within two weeks of her first appearance, Taylor had said it was like she’d been at the Club for ‘the last five or ten years’.
At the end of her first season at City, Hasegawa had been named in the PFA Team of the Season alongside Alex Greenwood and Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw. A few months later, a place on the 2023 Ballon d’Or shortlist would follow.
While she may not play the final pass or be the one to finish off the move (she’s yet to add to that Leicester goal), it’s a safe bet to assume that Hasegawa played a vital role in its execution.
Indeed, at the end of the 2022/23 campaign, the 26-year-old had attempted the third most passes of any midfielder in the Barclays Women’s Super League, with an average of 56.8 per 90 minutes.
Incredibly, 50.5 of those found their intended target; the best rate of anyone in Hasegawa’s position.
And those remarkable numbers have continued apace in the current campaign, with only Alex Greenwood and Laia Aleixandri having completed more successful passes than the Japanese international so far for City in the WSL.
But what’s perhaps so exciting about Hasegawa is her belief in the direction of the Club, and her ambitions of silverware.
“I am extremely happy. I couldn’t be happier,” she remarked having committed her future to the Club until 2027.
“We’ve improved this year and we have built up a lot. I’m so excited because we have a chance to win the league and the cup.
“I love our style. I want to win the league, Champions League and the cup, and that’s why I decided to stay here.”
Season-By-Season Stats
2022/23
Played: 27
Goals: 1
Assists: 1
Honours: PFA WSL Team of the Season
2023/24*
Played: 14
Assists: 1
*Current season stats correct up to 23/01/24
