Real Madrid signed him to make him one of the faces of the future. The strange twist is that the future has arrived so early that Yan Diomande now finds himself registered with Castilla: the Blancos’ reserve side, competing in Primera Federación – the third tier of Spanish football, the equivalent of Serie C in Italy. There is one number that changes the perspective of the whole story: €140 million. Diomande has just arrived from RB Leipzig for a record fee, something never seen before at the Bernabéu, where some of the most extraordinary transfers in football history have already taken place – Zidane, the two Ronaldos, and we can stop there. Real Madrid’s hierarchy have not lost their heads, nor is the intention to leave the Ivorian winger in the reserves to grow like any other young player. His age, however, is what makes the whole solution possible.
Diomande is an attacking player of exceptional quality, capable of breaking down opposition defences – and that is not a minor detail – from either side of the pitch. He arrives after a good World Cup with Ivory Coast – four appearances and an assist, becoming the youngest player in the history of the national team to achieve such a record at the tournament – and, above all, after a season in which he became one of Leipzig’s leading figures in the Bundesliga: 36 appearances and 13 goals. Extraordinary numbers for a player born in 2006. The size of the fee belongs to a market where prices have long moved beyond any normal scale – Leipzig have still completed the better piece of business, taking around €120 million in real capital gain from one summer to the next – but Diomande is a prospect who at Real Madrid can become a top player. He is not yet 20, and that has helped the Blancos find room for him in a squad already overflowing with talent.
Spanish football has very specific rules on player registrations, as Mundo Deportivo explains: “If reserve-team players are used by a first-team side, they must be under the age of twenty-three.” The meaning is straightforward: an Under-23 signing can be registered with the second team and then play for the first team without complications. For Real Madrid, the advantage is clear. One additional place remains available for senior players. It is a route the club could also follow with another arrival this summer: 21-year-old Carlos Espí, coming from Levante and already a regular for Spain Under-21s.
With this system, Real Madrid would use only 23 of the 25 available first-team registration places. Two spaces would remain, leaving the club room for further moves before September and the possibility of adding even more strength to a squad already among the best in Europe, but still carrying the desire to respond after recent disappointments in La Liga and the Champions League. Mourinho, of course, will enjoy watching it unfold. Diomande can remain calm: Castilla is unlikely ever to see him on the pitch. The reserve side, however, can still claim a record that will be almost impossible to beat – the most expensive signing ever made by a second team. A record measured in several zeros.