Real Madrid's pursuit of Yan Diomande has hit a wall of silence in Leipzig. ONE reports that the Bundesliga club failed to respond to an improved offer from the Spanish giants within 24 hours, leaving a deal that once looked close to touching down in limbo.
The 19-year-old Ivorian winger has been one of the stories of the year in German football, and Madrid have been chasing him hard since agreeing personal terms with the player weeks ago. PSG, once seen as a rival suitor, have already withdrawn from the race.
The sticking point is money. Leipzig want €120 million as a fixed, unconditional fee, and according to ONE they are refusing to accept any structure built around bonuses or performance-related add-ons. Real Madrid had previously seen an offer in that region turned down before returning with the improved bid now sitting unanswered on Leipzig's desk.
Diomande himself appears to be applying pressure from within. He sat out Leipzig's friendly against Werder Bremen citing illness, and ONE reports he may also skip the club's upcoming training camp in Austria using the same excuse — a not-so-subtle signal of where he wants his future to lie.
Madrid had hoped to have the transfer wrapped up by the end of the weekend. That deadline has now slipped, but sources on both sides described the standoff to ONE as posturing rather than a genuine breakdown, with a resolution still expected within the next day.
The player has been a revelation since joining Leipzig from Leganes for a modest fee last year, contributing 12 league goals and eight assists as the club finished third in the Bundesliga. He then took his form to the World Cup, starring for Ivory Coast as they reached the round of 32.
Should the move go through with its variables triggered, Diomande would become one of the most expensive teenagers in football history, with a total package reportedly capable of reaching around €135 million — a figure that would put him in the same bracket as Real Madrid's record outlays for Jude Bellingham and Eden Hazard.
For now, though, the deal is stuck exactly where the Hebrew headline suggests: in Germany, waiting on a club that has stopped picking up the phone.
