Chelsea Women: Emerging French striker inks four year deal, heads back to Paris FC on loan

The 2023/24 Division 1 Feminine Young Player of the Year has officially landed in West London. With the Arsenal friendly looming, Chelsea FC Women confirmed the arrival of 20-year-old Paris FC striker Louna Ribadeira on a four-year contract. She'll head back to join Sandrine Soubeyrand's Paris side on loan for the upcoming campaign.

Chelsea fans should already be familiar with her from last season's UEFA Women's Champions League. Ribadeira came off the bench to play 16 minutes for the French outfit last January in the final group stage match — a 4-0 win to the Blues. Months prior, she broke the hearts of Arsenal fans, sending the North Londoners packing with her winning penalty during the first qualifying round last September.

It's only fitting a player with a track record of doing the business against the Gunners ends up joining their superior rivals.

"I'm so happy to join Chelsea because for me it is one of the best teams in the world," Ribadeira said per the club. "I'll continue my development at Paris for now and join Chelsea with more experience and more development of myself as a player."

Ribadeira is the second 20-year-old transfer to join Chelsea's books this summer

This is yet another addition that just gets you excited for the future of this club. We're undoubtedly spoiled by the exceptional talent currently in the team. However, the influx of youthful additions over the past few years underscores CFCW's determination to sustain their run of success.

In January of 2023, the club made a significant addition by bringing in the Golden Ball winner from the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. Now, this summer, it is welcoming another top young forward — the 2023 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship Player of the Tournament, Ribadeira.

The efficient striker is coming off a breakout season in the French top flight, scoring eight goals to go along with four assists in 22 total league appearances. She was the only player under the age of 20 last season with at least 12 goal involvements. Despite logging 501 fewer minutes than Paris FC's top scorer Gaëtane Thiney, Ribadeira finished behind her by only one in the goals department.

She was among the top-10 "rising" women's footballers listed by UEFA in its January list, along with Chelsea's Aggie Beever-Jones and Arsenal newcomer Rosa Kafaji.

That ability to be clinical in the final third at such a young age jumps off the page immediately. She is in at least the 86th percentile in goals plus assists and shots on target percentage among players listed as forwards. Her 3.66 shots on target per 90 minutes last season were tied with the 2024 Paris Olympics Golden Boot winner Marie-Antoinette Katoto.

"Louna has shown great promise early on in her career and we believe her instinctive finishing will prove to be a real asset to the club in the future," said general manager Paul Green.

In addition to Ribadeira's goal-scoring ability, she excels at holding possession and connecting within attacking sequences. This is reflected in her impressive progressive passing (93rd percentile) and final third pass statistics (86th percentile).

Ribadeira and Paris FC kick off the new campaign in Champions League qualifying against First Vienna FC on September 4 in Linköping, Sweden. With a win, the club could square off with Aimee Claypole, who is on loan at Linköping FC until December.