Fresh off the back of her best goalscoring season in English football, Melvine Malard has swapped red for blue, Manchester for London, by joining Chelsea in a reported £650,000 move.
The 26-year-old, now entering her prime, has come a long way from her humble beginnings on Réunion Island, a French island in the Indian Ocean, to the bright lights of the Women’s Super League via a trophy-laden spell at Lyon under Sonia Bompastor, with whom she is now set to reunite.
Her journey started way back in 2014, playing for Lyon after being spotted on the island playing for Saint-Dennis FC. Malard spent three years in the Lyon academy system before signing her first professional deal in 2017. In her first three seasons at Lyon until 2019/2020, she appeared just once in each season until a breakthrough loan at Fleury in the 19/20 season saw her thrust in the spotlight.
Eleven games in the top flight of French football during the second half of the season yielded just three goals, but they were enough to put Malard on the radar of Jean-Luc Vasseur, who coached her during her first season at Lyon. Malard scored seven goals that campaign, including four in six Champions League appearances, but it was under the stewardship of Sonia Bompastor that she reached new heights as the 2021/22 season got underway.
Bompastor took over from Vasseur in the summer of 2021, instantly making history by becoming the first ever female to take charge of the Women’s team at Lyon but it wasn’t done there. In her first season as a manager Bompastor led the team to the title and the UEFA Women’s Champions League. The then 21 year old Malard was one of the standout performers, bagging 17 goals in 35 appearances across all competitions, including one in the remarkable UWCL semi final turnaround against Juventus, on their way to becoming European Champions.
Her form dipped slightly in 2022/23, though not significantly, as she still netted eight goals in another title-winning season for Lyon before heading across the Channel to Manchester, initially on loan for the 2023/24 campaign.
Her first season in England brought more history at club level. Manchester United lifted their first-ever Adobe Women’s FA Cup, thrashing Spurs 4–0 in the final, while Malard also etched her name into the club’s history books by becoming the first woman to score for Manchester United in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. She achieved the feat by netting the equaliser against PSG in the first leg of the Second Qualifying Round play-off at Leigh Sports Village.
She then joined the club permanently in the summer of 2024, fresh from their FA Cup success, and scored a further six goals for United. Four of those came in the league despite her starting just four times. Malard was also part of the side that lost the inaugural World Sevens Football final 2–1 to Bayern Munich in Portugal.
Her final season in Manchester was her goalscoring best for the club, which included two hat tricks in the opening two league games against Leicester City and London City Lionesses. She also scored in United’s final league win of the season, a late winner at home to Everton which was then followed by a four match winless streak across March and April to see out the season.
On the international stage, Malard was part of the France side that won the 2019 UEFA Women’s Under-19 Championship. Her four goals in five appearances earned her the Golden Boot, a place in the Team of the Tournament and an international trophy in her first major tournament.
She made her senior France debut during her breakthrough season at Lyon, coming off the bench against Serbia in September 2020. Thirteen months later, she scored her first goals for Les Bleues, netting France’s fourth and fifth in a 5–0 victory over Kazakhstan.
Being named in France’s squad for Euro 2022 in England marked Malard’s first involvement at a senior international tournament. She also scored inside the opening minute of France’s 1–1 draw with Iceland during the group stage.
With a move to Chelsea marking the next stage of her career, Malard will reunite with the manager who previously brought out the very best in her. There is every reason to believe that her move to West London could see her enter the prime of her career and surpass what has come before. Chelsea have secured a dynamic, forward-thinking attacker who will take games to opponents and relish the biggest challenges.
