Florianne Jourde joins PSG as wave of young CanWNT hopefuls going pro continues
The pipeline of young CanWNT hopefuls heading to Europe continues to grow, as former Canadian U20 international Florianne Jourde joined French giants PSG on a three-year deal this week.
After two years with the USC Trojans in the NCAA, Jourde has decided to leave school early to step into the professional game, and that’s opened the door for a pretty exciting move with this transfer to France.
Bienvenue Florianne ✍️
— PSG Féminines (@PSG_Feminines) July 18, 2025
Le Paris Saint-Germain est heureux d’annoncer l’arrivée de la milieu de terrain internationale canadienne Florianne Jourde, qui rejoint le Club jusqu’au 30 juin 2028 ❤️💙
With that, she follows in the footsteps of some Canadians who made their name at PSG as youngsters, such as Ashley Lawrence and Jordyn Huitema, which is exciting for a high-potential player with a bright future like Jourde.
Only still 20 years of age, and still with two years of eligibility remaining at USC, this is a surprise move from Jourde, as most would’ve expected her to ride out the rest of her college career, but it’s a sign of a growing trend in the Canadian ranks - more and more of them are making the jump up to the pros at earlier ages than the generations ahead of them, who typically would finish their four-year degrees before going pro at 22, 23 and 24. .
That’s going to have a big impact on the CanWNT squad over the next few years, which is good news for a Canadian team that has struggled to build depth in the past, which has led them to become reliant on a smaller player pool. Not only that, but they’ve also struggled to move on from older players, too, with an absence of new faces ready to step up and take their places.
After this recent wave, that’ll start to change, however, as Canada is about to benefit from a wave of young talent making their mark in the professional ranks. We’ve already seen the impact Olivia Smith has had on the CanWNT as she’s blossomed into a star at club level, and there are many others, such as Jourde, who will now follow in her footsteps. 
Interestingly, when speaking about the trend Smith has started, it’s worth noting that she and Jourde were teammates on Canada’s U20s for past tournaments, including last year’s U20 World Cup.
FLORIANNE JOURDE RIPS IT HOME FOR CANADA 🇨🇦
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) September 11, 2024
They lead 1-0 in the 63rd minute vs. Spain.#U20WWC pic.twitter.com/1by0gfFuCg
When looking at that squad, there’s already an impressive crop of players playing professionally, led by Smith, Amanda Allen, Jeneva Hernandez-Gray, Jamie Perrault and now Jourde, and that number could continue to grow when considering other players from that teak like Annabelle Chukwu, Kayla Briggs, Janet Okeke, Nyah Rose and Ella Ottey have all earned CanWNT calls despite still being in college.
Clearly, the success of their peers is pushing those from that group to new levels, and that’s led to this rush of transfers, as they all look to test themselves at higher levels.
Returning to Jourde, however, what can PSG expect from their newest Canadian recruit?
A flexible attacking midfielder, she’s done well to produce for Canada and USC, as she has nine goals and two assists in 21 appearances for Canada’s U20s, along with three goals and two assists for USC. She didn’t play the biggest of roles at USC, to be fair, earning just 763 minutes across both seasons there, although a large reason for that was due to her commitments with Canada.
Across those minutes, she was mostly deployed as a midfielder, playing a little deeper than she had for Canada, where she was often an out-and-out #10, as she played at last year’s World Cup. In that deeper midfield role with USC, who usually deployed her as a #8 in a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-3-3, she was solid on the ball, attempting 36.57 passes per 90 (at a 79.7% clip), including 2.65 long balls (at a 36% clip), while also making 6.36 passes to the final third (at a 61.7% clip) and 2.76 passes into the box (at a 34.6% clip).
What that shows, however, is that she got on the ball and wanted to funnel it towards the right areas of the pitch (she attempted 9.33 of her passes forward compared to 8.59 backwards passes), but sometimes lacked the execution on those actions, hence the lower pass completion rates, especially on her long balls and passes into the box.
For a midfielder still on the younger side of a lot of her college peers, it’d have been expected that she would grow in that area had she stuck around at USC, so expect PSG to hone in on that with her. She’s passing the ball into the right areas, and with the right regularity, which is good to see, but she’ll just want to keep working on her execution.
Otherwise, she averaged 0.64 key passes per 90, further highlighting the idea about her honing in on her execution - but she also attempted 4.88 dribbles (at a 32.6% clip) and had 1.7 shots per 90, showing that she looked to make things happen in other ways on the ball, too.
Flores ➡️ Sampaio ➡️ Burns ➡️ Jourde to put USC on the board ⚔️#FightOn // #Gameday pic.twitter.com/hcqLHGyKCL
— USC Women's Soccer (@USC_WSoccer) September 7, 2023
Of course, for midfielders, there’s a lot more to do than just on-ball actions, especially for someone playing deeper as Jourde had been. There, some stats stand out - she had an impressive 7.42 recoveries, and contested an impressive 30.42 duels per 90 (winning 40.1% of them), including 9.22 defensive duels (winning 70.1% of them) and 2.23 aerial duels (winning 28.6% of them). Lastly, she also had 2.65 interceptions per 90, which is solid, if not a bit low for a midfielder.
What that all shows, however, is that while she might not have had the strength to win offensive duels, loose-ball duels or aerial duels, hence the lower win rate of overall duels (which factor in all those duels, including those which come from when a player has the ball), but her success in defensive duels shows that she’s been willing to get stuck in and does so quite well. Plus, as the interception numbers show, she’s still finding ways to stop plays before they develop, which usually comes with experience, highlighting the idea that she’s still learning how to impact the game defensively.
Once again, however, that speaks to the development that’ll still need to come from her, as she’ll look to get stronger to be able to protect the ball better, while helping her maintain this success in duels against stronger, seasoned professionals. Then, from there, she’ll also look to improve her defensive positioning, something she’ll get to do in a professional environment.
Overall, though, there’s a lot to be encouraged about from PSG’s perspective, as they’ll have the chance to accelerate her development once she gets settled in their environment.
Florianne Jourde tacked this one on to cap the scoring today 🫡✌️#FightOn pic.twitter.com/K4ESmxGdzT
— USC Women's Soccer (@USC_WSoccer) November 18, 2024
That’s the trade-off when signing someone younger out of college - you might not get as much of a finished product as they might’ve gotten had you signed a graduating senior, with the immediate success of players like Jessie Fleming, Jayde Riviere, Lawrence, Kadeisha Buchanan, Julia Grosso, Deanne Rose and many others who went pro after spending the full four years in college spring to mind with that thought. Instead, you get a player who has shown a baseline level of skills against good opposition, while still being at a young enough age that they can develop and not create any long-term bad habits that can be harder to correct for a player at 23 or 24, for example.
When looking at those USC stats, however, expect Jourde to stick as more of a midfielder with PSG, who primarily used a 4-1-4-1, 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. Of course, she could slot in as a #10 in the 4-2-3-1, but for a youngster making the jump up to a team of this level, that’s a lot of pressure to endure, which is why it makes sense for her to be deployed as a #8 in the 4-1-4-1 or 4-3-3, for example, especially given that she has familiarity with both formations from USC.
On paper, she has the potential to become a solid box-to-box midfielder, as she has the offensive chops to be impactful on the ball and in the final third, and has shown a willingness to get stuck in and defend.
Now, at a club like PSG, she’ll be able to polish up her skills and find what that next level looks like, hopefully following in the footsteps of Lawrence and Huitema, who blossomed into key CanWNT regulars at the club.
Yet to be called in at the senior level, Jourde will look to change that over the next year, and her rapid integration into her new club will help her do that, as Canada won’t turn their nose up at a young midfielder finding her feet at a club like this, provided she’s earning decent minutes.
Those minutes might not come right away, as she joins a club with world-class midfield options such as Crystal Dunn, Grace Geyoro and Jackie Groenen, but the trade-off is what she’ll learn from sharing the pitch and competing with those players, which will then push her and hopefully lead to meaningful minutes down the road as she progresses.
From there, she’ll look to push into a quickly improving Canadian midfield, helping push the likes of Fleming, Grosso, Emma Regan, Simi Awujo and others, helping Canada’s quest to get younger and deeper at a key position, while bolstering their overall depth.
