Yan Diomande’s Real Madrid start has not gone to plan — so the club’s record signing spent his day off at work. Less than 24 hours after Los Blancos edged Inter Milan 2-1 in their Champions League opener at the Santiago Bernabéu, the Ivorian reported to Valdebebas to train on his own, despite José Mourinho standing the entire squad down.
Yan Diomande and Real Madrid’s voluntary shift at Valdebebas
Mourinho gave his players Wednesday off after a bruising, chaotic night against Inter, with preparations for the next La Liga assignment against Rayo Vallecano due to begin later in the week. According to El Chiringuito TV, cited by Bernabéu Digital and reported by Madrid Universal, two players ignored the rest day and turned up at Ciudad Real Madrid anyway: Diomande and Brahim Díaz.
They are, not coincidentally, the two men competing for the same shirt. Both are chasing the right-wing berth in Mourinho’s front line, and both spent Tuesday watching a large part of the biggest night of the season so far from a position they would rather not occupy.
The weight of the price tag
Diomande arrived from RB Leipzig late in the summer window as, by the reported fee, the most expensive signing in Real Madrid’s history — figures of around €140 million have been widely quoted in the Spanish press, though the club has not confirmed the exact number. That kind of billing does not allow for a quiet settling-in period, and the 19-year-old has yet to produce the moment that turns a fee into a story fans enjoy telling.
Mourinho has been deliberate about protecting him. The Portuguese has fed him into games from the bench rather than handing him a starting role, and explained the thinking before the Inter tie, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo: “He arrived on the last day and he has to go step by step.” That is a manager buying his forward time. The Bernabéu, which spent Tuesday night whistling one of its own, is not famous for granting it. We looked at how his minutes have been rationed so far earlier in the campaign.
Brahim Díaz makes the same choice
Brahim’s presence at Valdebebas is the more revealing detail. The Morocco international did start against Inter and stayed on until the 80th minute, turning in one of the more complete individual displays of the night at both ends of the pitch. He had every excuse to take the day. He took the training pitch instead.
Neither player has a guaranteed place. Both responded to that by doing extra. For a squad that has just been booed through a Champions League win, and that has spent a fortnight being told it cannot finish the chances it creates, that is not nothing — the reaction inside the building to Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Inter was more anxious than celebratory.
What Mourinho will take from it
Mourinho’s second spell at Real Madrid has been built on standards rather than sentiment, and a coach who spent the summer talking about competition for places will note exactly who volunteered when nobody was obliged to. Diomande’s adaptation is the club’s most expensive open question of the season; the answer will be settled in months, not weeks.
None of this guarantees him a start against Rayo. It does suggest a young player who understands the size of the debt he has been asked to repay, and who would rather work than wait. At a club where patience is the scarcest resource of all, that is the right instinct.
