An agent has revealed Sunderland held ‘very concrete’ talks before a £17m RB Leipzig transfer was completed
Sunderland held concrete talks over a deal for Yan Diomande before his move to RB Leipzig, according to the winger’s representative.
The 19-year-old eventually joined Leipzig from Leganes last summer after the Bundesliga club triggered his €20million release clause – around £17million. Diomande has since emerged as one of the most exciting young attacking players in Germany, with his speed and dribbling ability even earning praise from Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann.
In an interview with Sky Sports, Diomande’s agent, Wolfgang Meier, revealed that Sunderland were among the clubs seriously involved before Leipzig completed the deal. Asked whether another club had tried to interfere with Leipzig’s move, Meier said: “That’s right. During negotiations with Leipzig, things also became very concrete with Sunderland. However, they didn’t want to trigger the release clause.
“Many other clubs who could have paid the €20million said they found the player very interesting, but a transfer was too risky due to his limited playing time. Of the big Bundesliga clubs, only Borussia Dortmund showed interest in him. However, they indicated to me that they preferred to sign someone with more experience. I was surprised that Bayer Leverkusen didn’t even consider him, as in my opinion, he would have been the ideal fit for the club. Instead, they opted for Ben Seghir from Monaco.
“It’s almost normal these days for a lot of information to leak before transfers. With your Transfer Update, you’re pioneers in this regard. While I know the major media outlets in Germany, I’m not a fan of deliberately spreading rumours. I prefer to work on transfers behind the scenes. No information leaked until the day before Yan signed. Only on the last day did clubs like VfL Wolfsburg and Sporting suddenly want to jump in.”
The claim offers an intriguing insight into Sunderland’s summer transfer thinking under Florent Ghisolfi. Diomande fitted the profile of a young, high-upside attacking player with major resale potential, but the reported £17million release clause ultimately proved a significant commitment for a player who had made only a limited number of senior appearances at that stage.
Diomande’s rise since then has been rapid. Born in Abidjan, the Ivory Coast international moved to the United States at 15 and joined DME Academy in 2022 after playing high school football for the Yulee Hornets. He later had a trial at Rangers before moving to Spain with Leganes. After initially joining Leganes’ reserve side, Diomande made his senior debut in La Liga against Real Madrid in March 2025 and scored his first professional goal against Espanyol later that season.
Leipzig then moved decisively, triggering his release clause and handing him a five-year contract. Diomande scored his first goal for the club in the DFB-Pokal against SV Sandhausen before opening his Bundesliga account in a 6-0 win away at Augsburg. His standout moment came later in the year, when he scored a hat-trick in a 6-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt. That made him the second-youngest player to achieve the feat in Bundesliga history, behind only Walter Bechtold in 1965.
