When Real Madrid needed to close the deal for one of Europe’s most coveted teenagers, José Mourinho did not send an intermediary. The Portuguese picked up the phone himself and, in fluent French, told Yan Diomande exactly why his future belonged at the Santiago Bernabéu. A Real Madrid shirt soon followed. By the time the Diomande transfer was signed, the 19-year-old Ivory Coast winger had chosen Los Blancos over Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool.
That personal touch, reported by The Athletic, sits at the heart of the biggest coup of Real Madrid’s window — the €135m (£115.7m) club-record signing confirmed this week. It is a deal that says as much about Mourinho’s pull as it does about the player, and it hands Los Blancos one of the game’s brightest young forwards for the years ahead.
The Diomande transfer race Real Madrid had to win
This was not a quiet piece of business. Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool both chased the winger before, as the Guardian reported, PSG pulled out and Real struck a deal on Wednesday. The fee — an initial €125m plus up to €10m in add-ons, with some reports putting the package at €140m — makes Diomande the most expensive African player in history and eclipses the outlay on Jude Bellingham in 2023.
The rise has been rapid. Diomande only joined RB Leipzig from Leganés last summer for around €20m before starring for Côte d’Ivoire at the World Cup. Now, on a seven-year contract until June 2033, he becomes Mourinho’s sixth signing of a busy summer, following Ibrahima Konaté, Marc Cucurella, Bernardo Silva, Denzel Dumfries and Carlos Espí through the door.
Mourinho’s personal touch
According to Madrid Universal, citing The Athletic via Mundo Deportivo, Mourinho intervened personally in the early stages of talks, holding that now much-discussed conversation with Diomande in French and handing him a club shirt to make him feel wanted. In a market where money alone was not enough, the manager’s reputation and relationship-building tipped the balance in Real Madrid’s favour.
Where Diomande fits Mourinho’s plan
Real Madrid had initially eyed Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise, but the German champions were unwilling to sell, and attention turned to Diomande. Spanish outlet AS reports Mourinho’s intention is to use the Ivorian as a regular on the right, allowing Trent Alexander-Arnold to operate in a more central role and giving Los Blancos fresh pace to run in behind alongside Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior. For Mourinho it is a signing that blends elite potential with tactical flexibility: a two-footed winger comfortable on either flank who can press, carry and finish. At 19, he arrives with room to grow into the responsibility a nine-figure fee inevitably brings.
It is a lot to place on teenage shoulders, but that is the point of the gamble. Mourinho did not just help sign the club-record signing; he sold him the project face to face. The next act is turning a phone call in fluent French into goals in white — and, Real Madrid hope, into the next Galactico.
