London City Lionesses miss out on Ingrid Engen who joins French giants Lyon | OneFootball

Former Barcelona defender Ingrid Engen has joined Lyon despite links with the London City Lionesses

Ingrid Engen has joined French giants Lyon on a two-year deal, with Women’s Super League side London City Lionesses missing out on the Norwegian international.

The French side confirmed the news on Friday morning in a post on their social media accounts.

Engen joins Lyon after four years at Barcelona where she won an impressive 13 trophies.

It was revealed last week that Engen would leave Barcelona at the end of her contract, amid links with Lyon and London City Lionesses.

The French side, who reached the semi-finals of the 2024-25 Champions League, have won the race to sign the 27-year-old.

Lyon in a club statement said: “With a strong technical quality on the pitch, Ingrid Engen is a versatile player capable of playing both in central defence and in midfield.

“The club is happy to be able to rely on the experience and qualities of Ingrid Engen for the next two seasons, and is pleased to have convinced her to commit to the Lyonnes project.”

Ingrid Engen chooses Lyon over London City Lionesses

Ingrid Engen has decided to join French side Lyon despite reports from Spain claiming that the London City Lionesses were the ‘best-positioned’ team to sign the Norwegian international.

London City will play WSL football next season for the first time after they were promoted from England’s second-tier.

The club already has established names including former Barcelona player Maria Perez, Sofia Jakobsson, and Kosovare Asllani.

London City are owned by Michele Kang’s consortium, which also includes Lyon. Both of Kang’s clubs were interested in Engen but Lyon had one big advantage over the WSL side.

That is Lyon will play in the Women’s Champions League next season. They are one of the most successful European teams in women’s football and have won eight Women’s Champions Leagues.

Lyon previously made a move to sign Engen in January, but Barcelona were unwilling to do business at that time.

Barcelona have already replaced Engen this summer with the free transfer of former Man City defender Laia Aleixandri.

Michele Kang’s first-season WSL aspirations for London City Lionesses

London City Lionesses owner Michele Kang began drawing up plans for their first season in the WSL immediately after promotion.

Although the club missed out on Ingrid Engen, Kang said it will be easier for the club to recruit.

As per City AM, she said: “It’s actually going to be much easier to recruit. A lot of top players didn’t want to join a Championship team but now we’re in WSL I think it’s going to be easier to recruit.

“We’re very, very excited. We’ve been building the team to be mid-tier WSL, at a minimum, on day one.”