RB Leipzig admit Real Madrid’s €125m Yan Diomande offer was too big to reject

RB Leipzig sporting director Marcel Schafer says the club would have preferred to keep Yan Diomande, but accepted the winger’s record-breaking move to Real Madrid after being presented with an offer that was extremely difficult to turn down.

The 19-year-old Cote d’Ivoire international joined the Spanish club after only one season in Germany. The guaranteed transfer fee has been reported as €125m, with the total potentially rising to €140m if performance-related bonuses are met.

Speaking at a media roundtable in Leipzig, Schafer explained why Leipzig sanctioned Diomande’s departure despite initially insisting the player would not be sold when interest emerged towards the end of the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign.

The club’s position changed as the summer transfer window progressed. Diomande’s ambition to play for Real Madrid was a factor, while the financial scale of the offer also made it increasingly difficult for Leipzig to maintain their stance.

“So, 100 percent, the intention was not to sell Yan Diomande. Why should we do that? But we are a club, and we need transfer revenues. It’s not like, ‘maybe it would be good or nice.’ It’s something we need. It was a significant number,” Schafer told Bulinews.com.

Leipzig had signed Diomande for €20m a year earlier, when he had made only 10 La Liga appearances. Schafer said the player’s subsequent rise demonstrated the importance of investing in potential rather than simply paying for achievements already delivered.

“Sporting-wise, of course, we would have loved to keep him, but on the other hand, we need to create win-win situations and write successful stories. And this was an outstanding story,” he added.

“When we signed the player a year earlier for 20 million euros, everyone asked me if I had any issues with calculating or estimating the fee for a player with 10 games in La Liga.

“It’s a good example that you don’t invest in what a player has already shown, but in the potential. We were the only club putting such a high number on the table. It was way higher than his market value, but the potential was outstanding for us.”

Schafer said Diomande’s transfer represented the type of outcome Leipzig aim to create: developing young players, increasing their value and eventually allowing them to move to one of the world’s biggest clubs.

Although the club’s preference had been to retain the teenager for longer, the combination of the player’s long-held Real Madrid ambition and the size of the proposed fee led Leipzig to approve the deal.