Could we see Vivianne Miedema in the ALW in future?

If two snake encounters were not enough to scare off Vivianne Miedema from Australia, a move to the A-League Women in future may be on the cards.

Last month, the Arsenal striker spent two weeks away from the pitch in Adelaide to hit reset.

It seems unlikely Miedema will be seen in an ALW jersey anytime soon however as the 26-year-old is set for another year with her WSL club, where she has scored 123 goals for since joining from Bayern Munich in 2017, with an option to extend a further year.

She was fielding offers from other top European clubs with deeper pockets than Australian clubs before she re-signed with Arsenal mid-year, but it was the Ballon d'Or finalist's trip in November to visit a close friend and former teammate that helped her rediscover her form on the pitch.

Adelaide United's Maruschka Waldus was the close friend in question who the Dutch star visited.

The 30-year-old told Optus Sport she had been advocating for Miedema to make the move to Australia, especially since she has fallen in love with the country herself since her first ALW season in 2017-18 with the Western Sydney Wanderers.

"I'm trying," she laughed.

"We'll see. Maybe one day.

"I combined it with playing in Norway and it was perfect, and I kind of fell in love with the country.

"It's fun, it's a good league, and it's competitive like you don't know who is going to be the champion because everyone can beat everyone.

"Of course, the climate is very different. Back home, the Netherlands is flat and you feel like you don't have any hills. So it's so different, you can't compare it I feel. The lifestyle here is more relaxed, people are a little bit more relaxed, whereas back home it's a little bit more rushed and everyone's always busy.

"Football-wise, back home it's more technical and tactical and here the game is a little bit faster, I would say that's the difference. And the work rate is, it sounds a bit weird, but I think the work rate here is higher than in the Netherlands."

Miedema and Waldus spent 2011-14 playing together as teenagers in the top Dutch league, and later the BeNe League, for SC Heerenveen. Miedema was the top goalscorer each year for the club during her time in the Heerenveen jersey, netting 83 goals in 79 appearances.

It was there that their friendship blossomed and eventually led to the Gunners' goalscorer visiting the South Australian city when she needed a break from the game.

Many questioned why Adelaide, but Waldus said it was a perfect choice.

"We both came to Heerenveen at the same time, she's a little bit younger than me, but we were the youngsters of the team. That's where the friendship started, and we've always been good friends," she explained.

"We always try (to keep in touch). We try to visit each other like I try to come to London or when she has, for example, national team duties then she will stay in the Netherlands. We also always have the holidays when we both go back to our parents and we live close to each other back home in the Netherlands as well. So we always visit each other.

"She just wanted a holiday and was like, 'Can I come?'. I said, 'Yes, of course, like come along'. And she came for a holiday for two weeks to Adelaide.

"Adelaide's really nice, it's a calm city and you have everything. You have the city, the beaches and nature. So there's nothing more that you could want or need. So it's a really good place to relax, have some fun and just switch off for a bit."

Miedema kept a relatively low profile during her time Down Under, bar a fan photo in the stands of Hindmarsh Stadium at a United men's game on November 11 with Isabel Hodgson.

Many Australian fans were disappointed they missed her when news broke this week that the Arsenal star spent her break in Australia but Waldus explained it was exactly what her friend needed.

Although it turns out Miedema was not hiding and was often out and about seeing all the city had to offer during her visit.

"We've been friends forever, so I don't think like that," Waldus said on Miedema's fame.

"For me, I feel like everyone is just a person, even stars, but I think it was nice that when she was here in Australia that there was not that much attention to be fair.

"Everyone needs to have that time.

"I was of course training with Adelaide and then in the meantime, she would train herself as well. She had been running and went to the gym.

"We did a lot of things actually. We went to Cleland Wildlife Park, we went on a couple of hikes where we saw a snake twice, and we've been to beaches like Hallett Cove and down to Victor Harbour.

"It was not my first time (seeing a snake) but the first one we saw we had stopped walking and then it just went in front of us. It was a black one with a red belly.

"And the second one was also funny because we were hiking in the Deep Creek National Park. We saw it on the path and it went back up, and we're like, 'Okay, what do we do? Shall we go back or?'

"We were going to Blowhole Beach and we're like, we're almost there so we'll just wait. We waited and then the moment we walked it came back again.

"I almost stepped on it, and then I walked further and (Vivianne) was still behind me and it was in between us and we were both like, 'Oh my God'. It moved on eventually so we were like okay, we can go now."

It seems, despite the snakes, Miedema's time in Australia was exactly what she needed.

The Dutch international has scored in three of her four games since returning, including a match-winner in the UEFA Women's Champions League against Juventus on Thursday morning (AEDT).

With Miedema back to her old self in Europe, Waldus' focus is on her team's push for silverware. As Adelaide pushes for finals football this season.

"I want to become champions," Waldus said.

"Two years ago, we were very bummed that we missed the finals and then I left back home to join PSV and then they made finals, but I think now we have a really good team.

"And we want to try to push for that gold medal. I think that's the goal."

United have had a strong start to the season and sit in fourth, with two wins and a loss heading into their game in Sydney against Wanderers.

Originally published for Optus Sport on December 11, 2022