MELBOURNE City has made its W-League ambitions abundantly clear, audaciously plucking Matildas captain Lisa De Vanna from cross-town rival Melbourne Victory for its inaugural season.

The Herald Sun can reveal De Vanna will play for the Manchester City-owned club after signing a one-year deal on Friday, becoming the first player to join Australia's ninth women's professional club.

Although restrained by a $150,000 salary cap, City is hellbent on exploiting its global network of scouts and contacts to instantly compile a championship-contending squad.

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media_camera Lisa De Vanna celebrates scoring against Sweden at the World Cup.

The English women's season finishes in September and it's understood that as many as three of Manchester City's stars who played for semi-finalists England at the women's World Cup could make their way to Australia for the W-League season, which is likely to kick-off in November.

But De Vanna's capture is a massive statement to begin with. The 30-year-old arrived back from Canada last week where she helped the Matildas to a historic World Cup quarterfinal appearance.

In scoring two goals in five games, De Vanna joined Socceroo Tim Cahill as the only Australians to score in three World Cups.

A typically forthright De Vanna said it was "sort of" hard to defect from Victory, but being from Perth initially she said she didn't have the same emotional attachment to the club as a Victorian player would. City women's coach Joe Montemurro — who previously coached De Vanna at Victory — got in touch with the striker earlier in the year to gauge her interest and she said that once she saw the club's facilities at its La Trobe University training base she was sold.

"Straight away I was like, 'this is what all women's clubs need to be like', these facilities are just incredible," De Vanna said. "After the World Cup he came back to me to see if I was still interested and I was.

"City coming in is massive for the sport and it's a good stepping stone for the rest of the W-League because it shows the standard that all teams should have."