Yan Diomande bid rejected and what it means for the Vinicius Junior to Arsenal transfer saga | OneFootball

Real Madrid have reportedly had a big bid rejected by RB Leipzig for the potential transfer of Yan Diomande, who could replace Vinicius Junior.

Arsenal fans will no doubt be keeping a close eye on this story as it could prove significant for their summer transfer window plans.

Vinicius has been linked as an ambitious target for the Gunners in a report from the Athletic yesterday, but one imagines that Diomande’s future will have a big impact on whether or not the Brazil international is available.

Sky Sports are for now reporting that Real have seen an initial bid of over £85m turned down by Leipzig, so what could this mean for Arsenal?

Arsenal linked with Vinicius Junior and Yan Diomande

Interestingly, even if this looks like it complicates Arsenal’s potential move to sign Vinicius, the report from Sky Sports also claims that the north London giants are one of the teams eyeing up Diomande.

The talented young Ivory Coast international could be another superb option for Mikel Arteta’s side in attack, so there might be an opportunity here for them to try coming in with a bigger bid to Leipzig.

For now, however, all signs point towards Diomande heading to Madrid instead, with Fabrizio Romano also weighing in on this story by saying the 19-year-old has not opened the doors to the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City for the moment…

Posting on X yesterday afternoon, Romano said: “Manchester City have gone quiet on Yan Diomande days ago after calls to check the situation, same for Arsenal. Diomande has only opened doors to Real Madrid since he agreed personal terms with Paris Saint-Germain in June.”

So, this probably means Vinicius remains Arsenal’s best hope, even if it’s still something at an early stage.

One imagines, however, if Real can come back in with a better offer for Diomande and get Leipzig to agree to the deal, then that could speed things up in terms of Vinicius’ exit.

The 26-year-old has just one year left on his contract at the Bernabeu, so it makes sense for the Spanish giants to cash in on him this summer instead of risking losing him on a free next year.

Vinicius Junior would arguably be Arsenal’s biggest signing ever

Arsenal have had plenty of world class players in modern times, with Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, and Patrick Vieira widely regarded as all-time Premier League greats.

They haven’t always splashed the cash as much as their rivals, but have occasionally made statements in the market with signings like Mesut Ozil and Declan Rice.

The signing of Vinicius, however, would arguably be a whole other level from any of those.

The Brazilian is a genuine global superstar at the peak of his powers, who has scored 128 goals in 376 games for Real Madrid, including in two victorious Champions League finals.

This is also a player with over 63 million followers on Instagram – almost three times as many as Arsenal’s currently most-followed player Gabriel Jesus. He’s also one of few footballers to have a Netflix documentary about him.

Short of signing Kylian Mbappe or Erling Haaland, it’s hard to imagine AFC could land a bigger name in world football right now than Vini Jr, who would surely instantly become their highest earner and one of the biggest names in the Premier League.