Yan Diomande took a while to get up and running for Real Madrid.
The Ivorian was a wanted man over the summer. That’s hardly a surprise. Diomande was one of the Bundesliga’s star performers last season. Indeed, he scored 12 and provided eight assists in Germany’s top tier last term. 118 completed takes was more than any other player.
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As such, interest in his services was hardly a shock. A plethora of Premier League teams showed an interest in the 19-year-old at the turn of the year. RB Leipzig demanded in excess of £100m in order to sell the teenage wing-wizard.
While teams scoffed at the asking price, RB Leipzig stuck to their guns. Real Madrid ended up paying a club-record £115.7m to lure Diomande to the Bernabeu, beating off competition from Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain to land the wideman.
Diomande’s initial struggles
Diomande, though, initially struggled to force his way into Jose Mourinho’s XI. His opening four league outings all came from the bench. Arda Guler and Vinicius Junior were preferred down the right and left, respectively.
“I can’t focus on the €120m or €130m… How much did they charge us? I have to focus on a player who’s coming off a top-level season at Leipzig,” Mourinho said of Diomande following the 4-0 win over Malaga. “When you talk about a huge number like that, you think of someone who arrives and blows everyone away. But that’s not it, he’s a young guy. Calm down, take it easy.”
Mourinho was right to temper expectations following Diomande’s arrival. While he enjoyed a whirlwind year in Germany, the Real Madrid star needed time to acclimatise to the pressure that comes with playing for football’s biggest team. With a huge price tag, Mourinho’s decision to keep the player out of the limelight in the opening weeks of his stint in Madrid was perhaps questioned by fans desperate to see the player in action.
In hindsight, it was a masterstroke. Earlier this month, Mourinho made the decision to drop Vinicius Junior in favour of Diomande on the left flank. The former has endured a stop-star beginning to the campaign, culminating in a second-half red card for a hair pull on Nathan Saliba in a 1-0 victory over Villarreal.
Villarreal win the turning point
As the Brazilian underwent a disappointing cameo on home turf, Diomande was Real Madrid’s saviour. He bagged what proved to be the winning goal midway through the second half at the Bernabeu. “I’m happy. I’ve been waiting for that first goal for a long time,” an ecstatic Diomande said at full time.
In the time since, Diomande has gone from watching Los Blancos on the fringes of the first-team, to establishing himself was a regular under Mourinho. The Ivory Coast star followed up his goal against Villarreal with the assist for Kylian Mbappe’s first-half strike in the entertaining 4-3 Champions League win at Roma.
He scored one and assisted another in a 4-1 win over Sevilla last weekend. And in midweek, Diomande came off the bench to score and assist against former side RB Leipzig. That he replaced the ineffective Vinicius Junior for the final 20 minutes speaks volumes. Mourinho was adamant that no player was “untouchable” in the aftermath of the home success. Diomande is close to that status on current form.
El Clasico next up
And he’s replicating his RB Leipzig showings just in time for El Clasico. Barcelona have won all nine league matches this season, but fell to a 4-2 Champions League defeat to PSG in midweek. Even so, Real Madrid sit six points off Barcelona. The can ill-afford to drop nine points behind Hansi Flick’s side.
Despite their flying start to the domestic campaign, Barcelona are questionable defensively. They’ve kept just one clean sheet in their last eight competitive matches. The league champions remain suspect when it comes to defending against skilful individuals.
Diomande fits that bill, and then some. The Real Madrid star is top for completed take ons per 90 (4.7) in the 2026/27 La Liga campaign. Regardless of who he comes up against, they’ll have their hands full in their efforts to keep Diomande quiet.
Real Madrid will rely heavily on Diomande’s explosive pace to punch a hole in the Barcelona backline and exploit their high defensive line. Put the ball over the top of the full-backs for Diomande, and he’ll tear Barcelona to shreds.
Having been forced into a peripheral role in the opening weeks of his time in the capital, Diomande is living up to the billing. A star showing in El Clasico, and the teen will be well on the path to superstardom.