The defender will join as a Lilywhite upon the opening of the summer transfer window and has signed a long-term contract with the club.
Spending the last two seasons in Germany with VfL Wolfsburg, Cailtin has racked up an impressive 178 appearances in her career to date and brings an impressive amount of honours already.
Now embarking on a new chapter in her footballing journey with a move to England, we take a look at her career so far.
A footballing family and early stages in the Netherlands
Football has been in Caitlin’s family before she was born with her father, Meindert, a former professional player who had spells in the Dutch leagues before spending two seasons in England with Notts County.
Having heard stories about her father, she followed in his footsteps into the professional game in Women’s football, first starting her youth career with RKVV JEKA before moving to CTO Eindhoven, where she combined playing football with her studies.
A versatile individual across the backline, adept at playing centrally or at full-back, Caitlin then joined Ajax ahead of the 2018/19 season as a 20-year-old and made her debut in the UEFA Women’s Champions League against Lyon in the group phase, making a further 14 appearances in her maiden senior campaign.
Whilst still finding her feet in a professional environment, the following term saw her feature a further seven times for Ajax in the Eredivisie before enjoying a breakthrough season in 2020/21 when she made 23 appearances in all competitions and featured in their Eredivisie Cup final 3-2 success against FC Twente in April, 2021.
On the international stage, having captained the Netherlands at Under-23 level, she received her maiden call-up to the senior national team in September, 2021 and made her debut in a goalless draw with Japan in The Hauge two months later.
A new opportunity awaits
After three seasons in Amsterdam, Caitlin decided to join then defending champions FC Twente upon the expiry of her contract with Ajax and the ball-playing centre-back would start 22 of their 23 league games as The Tukkers successfully retained the Eredivisie title – the first league title of Caitlin’s career.
In cup competitions, she tasted success once again in the Eredivisie Cup after overcoming her former side, Ajax, 4-3 in the final and featured in the UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifying rounds, scoring her maiden senior goal in a 9-0 win over FC Nike in August, 2021.
Her form for FC Twente earned a call-up to her nation’s senior squad for 2022 UEFA European Championships where they lost to France in the quarter-finals of the competition.
On the domestic scene, the trophy success continued for Caitlin and FC Twente as they won Eredivisie Cup for a second consecutive year and added the KNVB Beker and KNVB Super Cup, with the centre-back playing the full match in each showpiece event. Despite sweeping the cup competitions, her side missed out on the league title by one point to Ajax, with Caitlin making the starting XI on 20 occasions and finding the back of the net four times.
From the Netherlands to Germany
After an enormous amount of success in her home country, the physically commanding defender swapped the Netherlands for Germany to join Wolfsburg in the summer of 2023, but was immediately loaned back to FC Twente for one more season.
Lifting the KNVB Super Cup ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, she made a further 22 appearances to help her side regain the Eredivisie – and for the second time in her career – as they finished just two points ahead of Ajax.
Returning to Germany for the 2024/25 season, Caitlin’s maiden year in the Frauen-Bundesliga was hampered by injury which limited her to just 12 league games overall as the She Wolves finished second in the table and secured Champions League qualification.
That summer, the 2025 UEFA Euros followed for her nation and, after being named in her second European international tournament, she was a substitute in all three group stage fixtures in the competition as the Dutch suffered an early exit after finishing third in the group.
In her second season with the German side this term, Caitlin became a more prominent figure with 17 Bundesliga appearances and started every Champions League fixture from the league phase to the quarter-finals, where they were eventually beaten 4-0 by runners-up Lyon.