After weeks of talks, the green light finally arrived on Thursday: Yan Diomandé is a Real Madrid player. Transfer market expert Fabrizio Romano said weeks ago that the move would happen no matter what, sparking quite a stir on X. RB Leipzig, who stand to earn up to €140 million from the sensational sale of the 19-year-old forward, have now joined the debate too.
On 26 July, Romano gave his ‘here we go’ on Diomandé’s move to Real, for a fee of ‘more than €100 million’. The Italian’s report surprised fellow journalist Florian Plettenberg of Sky Sport, who had been closely tracking the transfer for the German outlet.
Asked on X about the exact status of the transfer, Romano then found himself at the centre of a major exchange with Plettenberg. According to the latter, there was no done deal at all. It triggered a public row between the two journalists, who increasingly lost sight of the ‘Diomandé’ subject.
Over the past few weeks, Romano kept insisting the deal was all but done, while Plettenberg reported that negotiations were still ongoing. The transfer has now gone through after all, although the fee is somewhat higher than Romano reported: from ‘more than €100 million’ to €125 million fixed, plus €10 million in easy bonuses and €5 million in more difficult ones.
Leipzig, in any case, appear to have taken Plettenberg’s side. The club officially announced the transfer with the headline ‘here we actually go’, meaning: only now is the transfer really done. For Leipzig, it is an outright transfer record. Previously, Josko Gvardiol held top spot. The Croatian left for Manchester City for €90 million.
Diomandé spent only one season at Leipzig. In the summer of 2025, the German club triggered the clause in his contract at Leganés, who received €20 million and can also look forward to another 5 per cent of the profit. The year before, the Ivorian was still trying to break through in the United States.
Now 14 caps into his Ivory Coast career, Diomandé also impressed at the last World Cup. At Real Madrid, the right winger will in any case not have to compete with Franco Mastantuono, who is on the verge of joining Fiorentina on loan for the rest of the season.