Real Madrid have never spent this much on a footballer. Diomande, an Ivory Coast winger with a season of Bundesliga football behind him, has arrived from RB Leipzig as the most expensive signing in the club’s history.
“Real Madrid spent a lot of money on me. People are waiting to see me, but there is no pressure,” he told Yahoo Sports.
“They spent a lot of money because they believe in me, why will I be scared?”
A phone call at 5am, in French
Diomande’s version of how the deal happened begins in the middle of the night. Mourinho, who took over Real Madrid in July, wanted to speak to him directly and did not wait for office hours.
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“I think it was 5am in Portugal, he woke up to speak with me,” the winger told Yahoo Sports.
The conversation was in French, the language he grew up with.
In his official presentation interview with the club, Diomande returned to Mourinho again.
“I want to thank the coach because we had a conversation before, and I am here thanks to him.”
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“When you play for Jose Mourinho, you want to die for him. I am ready to do that.”
Drogba’s warning about ‘dad’
Before Diomande signed, another Ivorian rang. Didier Drogba, who won three Premier League titles under Mourinho at Chelsea, wanted his young compatriot to know what he was walking into.
Diomande relayed the exchange to Yahoo Sports.
“Didier Drogba and I spoke some days ago. He told me: ‘Be careful, Mourinho is my dad.’”
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The advice, as Diomande told it, was to work hard and trust the manager, whom Drogba described as “a good guy”.
€140m record, and a seven-year contract
The fee is €140m once bonuses trigger, ahead of the arrivals of Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund in 2023 and Eden Hazard from Chelsea in 2019. The guaranteed base is €125m, with €10m in achievable add-ons and a further €5m tied to more ambitious targets. Diomande’s contract runs to June 2033.
Real Madrid beat Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool to a winger who had just been named Bundesliga young player of the season at Leipzig, with 12 goals and eight assists. He had started his LaLiga career on the other side of Madrid, making his top-flight debut for Leganés against Real Madrid in March 2025.
At his official presentation, he came back to the pull of the club.
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“When Madrid calls you, you can’t say no; it’s the best club in the world.”
“It’s a dream to be here, and I want to help the team win everything.”
Diomande could feature when Real Madrid open their 2026-27 LaLiga campaign away to Espanyol at RCDE Stadium on Saturday, 22 August, with kick-off at 9:30pm local time, after the club was granted an extension to its formal matchday one fixture against Real Sociedad following the World Cup.
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