Ligue 1: Rennes breaks its piggy bank for former Lensois Arnaud Kalimuendo

On loan to Lens for the past two seasons from Paris SG, the striker was transferred permanently to Rennes for €25m.

In Lens,with 21 goals and 6 assists in all competitions over the past two seasons, he has contributed effectively to the 7th place achieved in the last two exercises by the Sang et Or“, recalls Stade Rennais.

« Coveted by several European clubs this summer, the ambitious international hopeful tricolor (12 caps — 4 goals) gave his preference to Stade Rennais FC and will discover the Europa League this season“, rejoices the Breton club.

In the middle of the day, Stade Rennais coach Bruno Genesio announced that Kalimuendo was « undergoing the examinations necessary for the medical visit« .

Ready to face Monaco this Saturday?

« We hope that we will have good news tonight. Everything will have to be settled tonight so that he can participate in Saturday’s matchagainst Monaco, Genesio said during a press briefing.

This recruit will make it possible to expand the offensive sector of Rennes, which the technician wanted. « It’s a slightly different profile: a player who likes to go deep, who goes fast, who is also a scorer. It’s yet another weapon in our team to score more goalshe observed.

During a press conference on Thursday, PSG coach Christophe Galtier also mentioned the player’s departure to Brittany. « I’m happy for him and at the club, we’re happy for him. Things were very clear from the start concerning Arnaud, who was coming out of a very good season with Lens, who aspires to have much more playing time, about the same as he had at Lens or even more. Here it would be difficult“said Galtier.

The native of Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine) joined the PSG pre-training center in 2011, at the age of 9.

He made his first appearance for the PSG first team in Ligue 1 against Lens in September 2020, and was crowned French champion in 2022 after appearing in two games with the capital club.

The name of Arnaud Kalimuendo is added to the list of promising young people who have left PSG in recent years, in search of playing time: Kingsley Coman, Mike Maignan, Christopher Nkunku, Jonathan Ikoné, Tanguy Kouassi…