Sunderland ‘held concrete talks’ before £17m Leipzig move for Yan Diomande | OneFootball

Sunderland held concrete talks over signing Yan Diomande before his move to RB Leipzig, his agent has revealed.

“That’s right. During negotiations with Leipzig, things also became very concrete with Sunderland. However, they didn’t want to trigger the release clause,” he told Sky Sports.

“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.”

“Only on the last day did clubs like VfL Wolfsburg and Sporting suddenly want to jump in.”

The 19-year-old joined Leipzig from Leganes last summer after the Bundesliga club triggered his €20million release clause, around £17million. He has since emerged as one of Germany’s standout young attackers, drawing praise from Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann.

Born in Abidjan, he moved to the United States at 15, joined DME Academy in 2022, had a trial at Rangers, then signed for Leganes. He debuted in La Liga against Real Madrid in March 2025 and scored his first professional goal against Espanyol later that season.

Leipzig handed him a five-year deal. He netted in the DFB-Pokal against SV Sandhausen, opened his Bundesliga account in a 6-0 win at Augsburg and later hit a hat-trick in a 6-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt, becoming the second-youngest to do so behind Walter Bechtold in 1965.

Source: Sunderland Echo