As one of the most talented young players in her native Netherlands, Kaptein was integral to six pieces of silverware Twente lifted between 2022 and 2024 after winning a one-off game.

Among them, three times, was the Eredivisie Cup, Netherlands’ equivalent of the League Cup, which Chelsea are competing with Manchester City for at Pride Park on Saturday.

Kaptein also got her hands on the Dutch Super Cup twice - scoring in the 2023 final - and, most significantly, the KNVB Cup the same year. That is her favourite success of a mighty impressive bunch, and, when we sit down with her at Cobham this week, she explains why her understanding of such occasions will stand her in good stead for her first final in the blue of Chelsea.

‘I’m really excited,’ Wieke beams.

‘I had a lot of finals at my last club, and they are the best games. As a team and with yourself, you prepare for everything. They are the most exciting games of the season.

‘I always enjoy finals. My experiences with finals, I know the pressure. I love the pressure of it. A lot of people are watching it. I like that a lot. Everyone is really excited for it.

‘In our heads we are treating it like any other game we had this season, but of course it is a final. If you lose, that’s it. So it’s different from a league game, but in everyone’s head it’s the same. We train tactically a little bit more. Preparation has been good this week. We have a good plan ahead of the final.’

Kaptein’s first season in the Chelsea squad has been unmitigated success. She has stepped up to the higher demands the WSL places on players, featuring 11 times so far, and has started five of our six Champions League games to date. That underlines Sonia Bompastor’s faith in the exciting young midfielder.

She agrees it has been a campaign of positive development.

‘I grew a lot in the first half of the season,’ Wieke says. ‘I played a lot in the first half of the season and I learned a lot from the girls. I really like it.

‘The second half of the season is all about prizes. That’s really good. We have a lot of prizes to win. We are in a good build-up. The games we have now are because of what we did in the first half of the season. That’s why we have a lot of games now, and it’s good we have a big squad.

‘I’m really ready for it, I’m really looking forward to playing all these games, whether it’s being in the starting XI or as a substitute coming on.’

Man City’s preparation for the final has been affected by the departure of head coach Gareth Taylor, with former boss Nick Cushing returning on an interim basis. At the start of a quartet of games against the Citizens, Kaptein was quick to emphasise she and the Chelsea players’ focus is on what they are able to control.

‘We’re looking at ourselves and what we can do to hurt them. We will see what they will do. Maybe with the new coach they will do something else, but we are going to be prepared for it.

‘It’s mentally the toughest because you play four times the same opponent. They’re also a really good team. It’s good to play four games against a big team on a big occasion. It’s really good, but by the fourth game everyone might be a bit sick of each other! But everyone is looking forward to it, and I hope we win them all!’

And while Kaptein might have all that cup final experience back home, Saturday will still feel very special.

‘When I was younger, I couldn’t dream of playing in a final for Chelsea,’ she smiles.

‘I always played with my brothers on the streets and in the fields, and now to play a final with Chelsea is really something amazing.’