Getting to know, Kadidiatou Diani

Here are 11 things you need to know about the former OL Lyonnes and Paris Saint-Germain striker…

1. London City Lionesses have admitted they’ve been keen to add goals to their attacking armoury, and in Diani they have a player who netted 41 goals in 93 appearances with previous club OL Lyonnes, and an even more remarkable 86 in 145 games for Paris Saint-Germain. She is PSG’s second-highest goalscorer of all time.
2. Diani was also the joint second-highest scorer at the 2023 Women’s World Cup with four goals, one behind Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa.
3. Dani has scored 14 or more goals in her last seven seasons. Her best return came in 2022-23, when she found the net 26 times. Of these, 17 came in just 17 league matches.
4. Dani will arrive in London with a reasonable trophy and medal collection. She won the French league title in 2021 and twice lifted the Coupe de France Feminine, as well as the SheBelieves Cup in 2017. Her list of individual awards is even longer, and includes the UEFA Women’s Champions League top scorer in 2024.
5. The 31 year old has a Malian background and grew up in the Parisian suburb of Vitry-Sur-Seine, which is widely known as the birthplace of French hip hop…
6. … which is probably why Diani is obsessed with music, citing hip hop, R’n’B and Afroabeats as her favourite genres. She admits to enjoying a dance in the dressing room after a victory.
7. When PSG signed Dani from Paris FC in 2017, it was for a then Division 1 Feminine transfer fee.
8. Diani is versatile: she can play on either flank or as a central attacker.
9. Such are her mannerisms, the French forward has been described by some of her friends and teammates as being very similar to Beyonce.
10. As a burgeoning star, she won numerous tournaments with the French development teams. She won the FIFA U17 World Cup in Azerbaijan and the U19 UEFA Women’s Championship a year later in Wales.
11. Dani cites Marie Adram, a former French development international, as her best friend in football.