Several days have passed since the agreement between Real Madrid and Leipzig seemed closed, but it was not until this Thursday that it was made official. Madrid confirmed the most expensive signing in its history. It is Yan Diomande, a player from Ivory Coast who until now was with Leipzig. The white club will pay the German club 125 million fixed plus another 10 in variables, which could bring the total amount up to 135 million. Neither Cristiano, nor Hazard nor Bellingham, to name three examples from the white history, reached these figures. The player, barely 19 years old, is already in Madrid and will join the discipline of the team led by José Mourinho today, who travels to Hungary this Friday to play a friendly tomorrow (7:00 p.m.) against Ferencváros. The boy has signed a contract until 2033.
Read more End of the saga: Vinicius renews with Real Madrid until 2032
This is Real Madrid’s sixth signing. He joins Marc Cucurella, for whom the white club paid Chelsea 55 million euros; Carlos Espí, signed from Levante for 25 million; Denzel Dumphries, from Inter Milan for 20 million; and Ibrahima Konaté, who arrived free from Liverpool, as well as Bernardo Silva, once his contract with City ended last June 30.
Diomande is 19 years old, scored 12 goals and provided nine assists with Leipzig last season. His market value then rose to 90 million euros. He was the most outstanding player from Ivory Coast in the World Cup: he made 24 dribbles, gave a goal assist, and was chosen MVP in the match against Ecuador. Ivory Coast comfortably passed the group stage, with wins against Curacao (2-0) and Ecuador (1-0) and a 1-2 loss against Germany. However, they lost in the round of 16 against Norway (2-1).
Before moving to Leipzig, which paid Leganés 20 million euros, he played ten matches for the Madrid team in the 2024/25 season, scoring two goals. He had already played in the Third Federation with the reserve team. Jeff Luhnow, then president of Leganés, celebrated his signing by drawing analogies with Messi, and told Borja Jiménez, who was coaching the team at the time of his arrival. The coach himself, in conversation with this newspaper, spoke about the new white signing: “On his first day we played a small match between the reserve team and the first team. He was with the reserves and I had to take him off because I sensed he was going to get kicked… He was dribbling everyone, had scored a goal, and I told the ‘B’ coach: ‘Take him off.’ I went to talk to Yan because he was upset about being taken off, and I told him that the next day he would already train with us.”
He debuted at Santiago Bernabéu with Leganés in a Copa del Rey knockout round. That significant date in his career was accompanied by a personal tragedy, upon learning of the death of his 15-year-old sister.
The arrival of the winger, who with that price is expected to be an undisputed starter, opens a series of questions that Madrid will have to clear up in the coming days. The most striking, of course, is that of Vinicius, to whom the club improved the renewal offer on Wednesday. At the Bernabéu offices, they await a response from the Brazilian, whose environment is “optimistic” about his continuation at the club. This would silence the voices that have interpreted the arrival of the young Ivorian as an invitation for Vini to leave.
What is certain is that this arrival closes the door to minutes during the year for several players. The most affected is Franco Mastantuono, who is about to close his loan to Fiorentina. But players like Brahim or Arda Güler are also left in an uncomfortable position, even Fede Valverde or Tchouaméni, the latter two especially if the last signing Real Madrid is pursuing is finalized. Negotiations for Rodri continue. The agreement with the player seems closed for several weeks now and it is now a matter of formalizing a sale with Manchester City. If the best player of the World Cup finally arrives, departures will be mandatory for financial balance.
