Arnaud Kalimuendo-Muinga (born 20 January 2002), known as Arnaud Kalimuendo, is a French professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a striker for club

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine departm ...

Club career

Paris Saint-Germain

Youth career and pro debut

Born in

Suresnes Suresnes () is a Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,145 as of 2016. The nearest communes are Nanterre, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmais ...

, Kalimuendo joined

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As F ...

(PSG) from FC Saint Cloud in July 2012. There he debuted with the under-19 squad in the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Leagu ...

, aged only 16, under the direction of

Thiago Motta Thiago Motta (; ; born 28 August 1982) is a professional Association football, football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of club Bologna F.C. 1909, Bologna. A midfielder, Motta spent his early career at FC Barcelona, ...

, becoming one of the leaders of the youth sides. Kalimuendo signed his first professional contract with the club on 8 July 2019, a deal that was set to expire on 30 June 2022. On 10 September 2020, Kalimuendo made his official debut for Paris Saint-Germain in a 1–0 loss against

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'' ...

2020–21: First loan to Lens

On 5 October 2020, Kalimuendo signed a contract extension with Paris Saint-Germain until June 2024, and joined Lens on a season-long loan deal. He made his debut in a 4–0 loss to rivals

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord ...

on 18 October, and scored his first goal in a 1–0 win against

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earl ...

on 22 November. His third goal for Lens came on 5 December in a 2–0 victory against

. By scoring his third goal for the club, he became the first Lens player in 70 years to score in his first three games as a starter in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

2021–22: Second loan to Lens

On 10 June 2021, it was made official by Lens that Kalimuendo would return to PSG following the end of his loan deal. His first appearance back at Paris Saint-Germain came in a 1–0 loss to Lille in the

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

on 1 August 2021. However, on

transfer deadline day A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer ...

on 31 August, Kalimuendo returned to Lens on loan for the remainder of the season. On 1 October, he scored his first two goals of the season in a 2–0 win over

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded ...

. It was the first brace of his career. Across his two loan spells at Lens, Kalimuendo scored 21 goals in 65 matches for the club.

Rennes

On 11 August 2022, Kalimuendo joined Ligue 1 side

International career

Kalimuendo represents France at international level. He finished third with the U17 side at the

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédératio ...

in Brazil in 2019, scoring a hat-trick in the third-place play-off to beat the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

by a score of 3–1. On 24 May 2021, Kalimuendo was called up for the Under-21 Euros by coach

Sylvain Ripoll Sylvain Ripoll (born 15 August 1971) is a French former football player and current manager who manages the French under-21 football team. Career As a player, Ripoll played with Stade Rennais, Le Mans and FC Lorient. On 25 May 2014, he was a ...

after Randal Kolo Muani was removed from the squad due to playing the

Ligue 1 relegation/promotion play-offs The Ligue 1 relegation/promotion playoffs is an annual playoff fixture in French football contested by the 16th-placed team in Ligue 1 and the winner of the Ligue 2 promotion play-offs. It takes place after the completion of the regular season a ...

with

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabit ...

Personal life

Born in France, Kalimuendo is of

Congolese Congolese or Kongolese may refer to: African peoples * Congolese people (disambiguation) * Kongo people, a Bantu ethnic group who live along the Atlantic coast of Africa from Pointe-Noire (Republic of Congo) to Luanda, Angola, primarily defined by ...

descent .

Career statistics

Honours

Paris Saint-Germain *

: 2021–22 *

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

France U17 *

third place:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual * Titi d'Or: 2020

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalimuendo, Arnaud 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from Suresnes French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers France men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players RC Lens players Stade Rennais F.C. players Ligue 1 players Black French sportspeople French sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Footballers from Hauts-de-Seine