This first good pick on the transfer market is also a blow for Paris Saint-Germain, who sees their best player leave for their great rival.

Ms. Kang, whose projects are very ambitious for OL women, has personally invested herself to convince Diani, at the end of his contract with PSG. The centre-forward and winger wanted to settle her situation before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand (20 July-20 August) but the formalization came only after her hat-trick against Panama (6-3) in the last match of the 1st round.

Diani preferred Lyon to Chelsea, who also led him to court assiduously.

Not only has Kang managed to catch a big talent from the Parisian rival but it considerably strengthens the Lyon attack.

French forward Kadidiatou Diani during the Women's World Cup match against Panama in Sydney, August 2, 2023 © FRANCK FIFE / AFP

At first, Diani, who had revealed his departure from PSG just before flying to Australia without mentioning his final destination, will compensate for the absence for the beginning of the season of Delphine Cascarino, operated on a knee (rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament).

Aged 28, Kadidiatou Diani, elected best player of Women's D1 for the 2022-2023 season during which she scored 17 goals in 17 games, has just returned to competition during the friendly match of the Blues won in Ireland (3-0), in early July, after an injury to the right collarbone suffered in March.

At Paris Saint-Germain since 2017 (161 matches, 84 goals), Diani started at Juvisy (2011-2017).

Disappointment at PSG

Her transfer of 150,000 euros to buy out her two-year contract was the largest in women's football at the time.

But his departure from the Parisian club is made against a background of disappointment.

"I think a lot of things have to change at PSG," the striker told AFP in February. I do not feel that we are considered as we should be. It's complicated to project yourself in these conditions," she said.

The departure of the French international therefore seemed inevitable.

With his recruitment, OL's attacking sector will remain very impressive and competitive, not only in the France league but also in the Champions League, a competition that Lyon have won eight times but where they remain on elimination in the quarter-finals in the spring, against Chelsea.

French forward Kadidiatou Diani during the Women's World Cup match against Panama in Sydney, August 2, 2023 © FRANCK FIFE / AFP

As early as this winter, even before Michele Kang took over, the Rhône club had convinced Haitian attacking and international midfielder Melchie Dumornay (Reims) to commit for three years.

Aged 19, she is presented as one of the future stars of women's football and represents Haiti, which for the first time in its history participated in a World Cup.

In addition to Dumornay, OL, who lost the American Catarina Macario, who left for Chelsea, can still count on the first Ballon d'Or in women's football, the Norwegian Ada Hegerberg, while Eugenie Le Sommer or the German Dzsenifer Marozsan have extended, seduced by Michele Kang's speech.

© 2023 AFP