Premier League club willing to pay £50m to sign Sporting star | OneFootball

Ousmane Diomande continues to attract suitors in England, and Leeds are the latest club to enter the race for Sporting’s centre-back. The English club are willing to make a record investment to try to secure the signing of the Ivory Coast international in this summer transfer window.

According to newspaper A Bola, Leeds could submit a bid in the region of €40 million, plus a further €10 million in add-ons. If completed, it would be the biggest investment ever made by the English club on a player, surpassing the €40.5 million paid to Hoffenheim for Georginio Rutter in 2022/23.

Despite the growing interest from the Premier League, Sporting’s stance remains unchanged. The Lions still see Diomande as one of the key pieces of the project for 2026/27 and intend to resist the pressure surrounding the centre-back, who recently renewed his contract until 2030 and is protected by an €80 million release clause.

For now, according to the same source, no formal offer has yet arrived at Alvalade. However, Diomande’s participation in the Club World Cup while representing Ivory Coast could further increase the 22-year-old defender’s visibility and intensify interest from English clubs in the coming weeks. Sporting are already working on alternatives for the heart of the defence in case they are faced with an offer that is impossible to refuse.

In the 2025/26 season, Ousmane Diomande – valued at €42 million – made 31 appearances for Sporting: 17 in Liga Portugal Betclic, nine in the Champions League, four in the Portuguese Cup and one in the Super Cup. In total, across 2,301 minutes played, the centre-back scored one goal and provided one assist.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.