€100m rated 

©TM/IMAGO

Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, the list of clubs linked in the Transfermarkt rumor mill to RB Leipzig sensation Yan Diomande is long. “I understand he doesn’t have an exit clause,” Leipzig center-back Willi Orban said after his club’s 2-0 win over SC Freiburg on Wednesday. Transfermarkt understands that Orban is correct. In fact, Transfermarkt understands that, per club policy, none of Leipzig’s new signings this summer have an exit clause in their contract.

Not that it will reduce the interest in the 19-year-old Ivorian national team player. Diomande, after all, has been sensational since joining Leipzig for €20m from LaLiga2 side CD Leganés last summer. Diomande has scored seven goals and four assists in 17 games across all competitions. He then also featured at the Africa Cup of Nations, where his incredible speed, tricks, and goal against Burkina Faso made him one of the rising stars of the continent. With all that in mind, his market value has increased from €1.5m to €45m since joining the Bundesliga club.

Given that there is no exit clause in his contract, the actual acquisition cost is likely to be significantly higher. Among insiders, a fee of €100m is already being speculated, and that isn’t now but further down the road as Leipzig are very much reluctant to sell the winger. Indeed, there were quite a few that raised eyebrows when Leipzig paid €20m to Leganés for what was then a very unknown name. “For us, it was always clear, if we have a chance, we will go for it,” Leipzig sporting director Marcel Schäfer said when asked about Diomande. One of the driving forces behind the transfer was former Liverpool boss and Head of Red Bull Global Soccer, Jürgen Klopp. “When Jürgen Klopp and [Red Bull technical director] Mario Gómez saw the data points and the video clips, they said: ‘go, go, go, get the player.’”

Signed after 200 minutes in LaLiga2: What makes Yan Diomande special?

Diomande has somewhat exploded onto the scene out of nowhere. After spending time in the United States, where he played in the high school system, he went on trial at a couple of MLS teams, Rangers, Chelsea, and another Premier League club. None of them were interested in signing the player. “I went to the United States to try to study there and play football,” Diomande said in an exclusive interview with Transfermarkt. “I tried out for a few teams. I was at the Colorado Rapids and Charlotte FC, but it didn’t work out. So, when I turned 18, I went back to Europe and signed with Leganes.” Then, after playing just 542 minutes for Leganés, he was signed by Leipzig last summer.

At that point, Leipzig were already all over the player. “He didn’t even have 200 minutes in the league, and we were already there,” Schäfer said. “We knew the competition was going to be high, so it wasn’t even much of a negotiation with Leganés. They knew what they had and named us a price, and because we knew what we were getting, we quickly moved to a deal.” For Leipzig, Diomande fit exactly the style of player they wanted to sign. “We moved away from a 4-2-2-2 system back to a system with clear wingers,” Schäfer said. “As a result, we wanted to sign a clear winger. A player who is quick, very strong, can play at a high intensity, and is good in one-v-one situations. We saw all the data with Yan, and we knew it was a 100% match from our side.”

That match could now pay off in a big way. Ahead of Leipzig’s game against Bayern, Diomande started to be increasingly linked to the Munich club. On the surface, a top talent of a Bayern opponent being linked to them is as old as time in Germany. But Transfermarkt understands that Bayern have heavily scouted Diomande in the past and remain interested. “He is a good player who has developed well,” Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund said. “It isn’t a topic that we are going to comment on as he plays for RB Leipzig. But he is a good player, everyone can see it.” A denial looks different. But Bayern will have to get in line, and the asking price will be enormous and probably out of reach for the Rekordmeister, and will certainly justify the money that Leipzig paid just last summer.