It isn’t easy for a 19-year-old player to see his name being linked with some of the biggest clubs in Europe, with potential transfer fees reaching 100 million Euros. Yet, RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande has shown incredible maturity to keep his head down and focus on the 2025-26 Bundesliga season. As RB Leipzig sealed their UEFA Champions League qualification over the weekend, NDTV had a chance to interact with the Ivory Coast star to speak about his season, ambitions, the rumours surrounding his potential exit from the club, and much more.
Diomande, who wants to be known as one of the best players in the world, has been linked with many clubs, but the biggest name hovering around him is arguably Liverpool, the 2024-25 Premier League champions. With Mohamed Salah set to leave the club in the summer, the Reds have reportedly zeroed in on Diomande as his ideal successor. When asked about a potential exit this summer, the teenage attacker said that his contract with Leipzig runs until 2030 and he is extremely thankful to the club for believing in him when not many others did.
“My contract here is until 2030, so I have four more years,” Diomande said in a virtual media conference on Wednesday. “What’s going to happen afterwards? I don’t know. I am a Leipzig player.
“I will never forget this opportunity. It’s not only about playing football, but the club helped me a lot off the pitch. The media only sees me on the pitch, but the club helped me a lot with my family and my mom. The only thing I can do for them is to give everything on the pitch, and this is what I’m trying to do every day.”
Focus On Game, Not Criticism Or Hype
Criticism and hype are two sides of the same coin for football players. Sometimes one good game sees them linked with the biggest clubs in the world; on other days, one bad game could see fans question even their place in the team.
Diomande, however, doesn’t read too much into either and tries to focus on the next task at hand. If he has a good game, his mindset is to continue doing the same, and in the case of a bad game, he simply moves on as quickly as possible.
“Sometimes, it’s good to have pressure from fans, teammates, and the media. You have to fight with yourself; it’s good. If you didn’t have a good game, you need to recognise that. You need to work hard, forget it, and move on to the next game. I have had a lot of bad games. I want to fight every day, I want to win every day—this is what I am trying to do. It’s not going to work every day, but you have to give everything.
“I am not the sort of person who plans so far ahead; I try to go step by step and have a new dream every day. But, yes, I want to be one of the best players in the world. In five years, I want to be one of the best, but I want to go slowly, step by step,” he told NDTV.
Cristiano Ronaldo The Role Model
When asked if there’s a player he is trying to model his game after, Diomande mentioned the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Vinicius Jr., and Kylian Mbappe as the players he looks up to.
“I look up to a lot of players; my idol is Cristiano Ronaldo, but I like a lot of other players like Ronaldo Nazario, and players of my type like Vinicius Jr., Kylian Mbappe, etc.,” he revealed.
Diomande has had a unique career path so far. He joined the DME Academy in the United States in 2022 before being signed by Spanish club Leganes. It was in 2025 that he caught the eye of Leipzig’s scouts and arrived in Germany. The rest, as they say, is history.
“Nobody knew me before, and 20 million Euros is a lot. It was a big risk for them and I thank them for that. And like I said today, we are on a good path and it’s not over. We need to keep going and keep working hard.”
The talk over a potential exit from the club in the summer could be too much to take at times, especially for a young player. But for Diomande, these rumours motivate him even more and help him trust in the process he has followed to come this far.
“It makes you happy and motivated to do more,” Diomande said. “I don’t really think about this kind of thing because I’m trying to stay focused on the pitch. My job is playing football, so [my representatives] are going to take care of everything outside of the pitch. These kinds of things give me a lot of motivation—to see a lot of clubs speaking about you and stuff like this—but I’m focused.
“It’s really easy when you have a good team around you. You just have to work and they’re going to take care of everything, because the only thing I can control is playing football.”
At the age of 19, Diomande has already had the opportunity to represent Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations. He is excited about playing for the national team in his first FIFA World Cup over the summer. Next season, he is also expected to feature in a Leipzig shirt, playing in the Champions League. In his own words, Diomande said that he didn’t expect to have ticked so many boxes so early in his career.
“It’s been an amazing season for me as a young boy—playing at the Africa Cup of Nations, qualifying for the Champions League, and now I’m going to play at the World Cup. I’m proud of myself and the people who have followed me since the beginning.
“I didn’t expect everything to happen so quickly, but of course I have the ambition and vision. I want to become one of the best players in Africa and in Europe,” the versatile winger asserted.
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