Four clubs keen
©TM/IMAGO
Yan Diomande is one of the most-coveted names in the transfer market with RB Leipzig already rebuffing an initial bid from Liverpool this summer. Now Manchester City and Real Madrid have entered the chase along with PSG, with Europe’s heavyweights set to battle it out for the Ivory Coast starlet’s signature.
It’s understood that Liverpool submitted a €90m offer for the 19-year-old with an additional €10m in add-ons in June, but that fell significantly short of Leipzig’s asking price. Transfermarkt understands that Leipzig are demanding €130m for Diomande and they are under no pressure to sell with the winger contracted until 2030.
Diomande burst onto the scene last season after his €20m move to Leipzig from Leganes and he registered 23 goal contributions in 36 games. The winger’s reputation has only been enhanced by two impressive performances for Ivory Coast at the World Cup and Liverpool aren’t the only club interested.
Per Fabrizio Romano, Arsenal and City also enquired about the player’s interest, with the latter prepared to pay up to €100m, according to Florian Plettenberg. With PSG and Madrid boasting huge financial power, it’s expected that Diomande will smash the transfer record for an African player. We’ve analysed the 15 most expensive signings from the continent.
The most expensive African players in history
If Diomande departs Leipzig this summer then he’s guaranteed to become the most expensive African player in history – he will also surpass Leipzig’s record of Josko Gvardiol’s €90m move to Manchester City. The current record transfer fee for an African player is Arsenal’s acquisition of Nicolas Pépé from Lille for €90m in 2019. That proved to be a terrible deal as Pepe struggled in the English Premier League but interestingly, Lille also received the second highest fee for an African player.
As the graphic above illustrates, Napoli paid the Ligue 1 club €78.9m for Victor Osimhen in the following summer. Nigerian striker Osimhen actually features twice in the top five list with his €75m move to Galatasaray last summer ranking fight. Unsurprisingly, transfers to English clubs dominate the top 15 list with 12 of the signings made by Premier League clubs, including Omar Marmoush to Man City and Bryan Mbeumo to Manchester United completing the top five.
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