In an effort to clear the decks a little and balance the books, Chelsea Women have made the decision to let midfielder ace Oriane Jean-Francois go. She has joined Women’s Super League rivals Aston Villa in a permanent move.
The deal has sent the French international to the midlands for a club record sell on fee, £450,000. This means that the Blues have set the record for buying and selling in the space of 12 months after they captured Naomi Girma last January for $1.1million (£900,000) from San Diego Wave.
Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea side have the challenge of chasing down Manchester City at the top of the WSL, they currently trail by six points with 10 games remaining.
Aston Villa sit comfortably in mid-table, with an equal split of 4 wins, draws, and losses from their opening dozen games, but the signing of Jean-Francois will be seen as a huge positive as they try and make headway into the big four clubs in the league.
Villa’s director of football, Marisa Ewers, was very upbeat about the signing:
“This is another signing that strongly supports our ambitions as a club. Oriane impressed throughout the European Championships as a starter for France, consistently performing at the highest level. We believe she will add immediate quality and further raise standards within the group.”
Who have Villa got?
Oriane Jean-Francois is still just 24 and has huge potential. After making her name with Paris FC, she went to very close neighbours Paris St Germain, where she really progressed. So much so she caught the eye of the Chelsea hierarchy, and the club stepped in to sign the exciting midfielder in July 2024 on a three year deal.
With such a large squad with nearly all the players being of international standard the star, who represented France at all youth levels before making her full debut in 2020 and has since gained over 20 caps, she never tied down a regular place in the starting lineup.
The signing makes perfect sense for the two teams, and in particular the player who needs regular football to stay in contention for the French national team.