Jan-Diomande was born in Africa and began his professional football career in Europe, but he might not be where he is today without the crucial formative years he spent in the United States. Now, the 19-year-old winger has joined Real Madrid for €125 million, becoming Real Madrid's most expensive signing in history.

According to Breaking The Lines, Diomande was born in Abidjan, the capital of Côte d'Ivoire, and grew up in the impoverished Aboisso region. As a child, he lived in the same house with 25 other people and played football either barefoot or in white plastic sandals. His father went to France early, so Diomande realized from a young age that he needed to take on family responsibilities.

At the age of 9, he left his hometown and went to the Inter Foot Sud Comoé football academy, about 100 kilometers away, near the border between Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. There, he got his first pair of football boots. However, his life remained very poor, and he even stole potatoes from local shops with 19 other children to avoid starvation.

Diomande knew that if he wanted to change his life and his family's life through football, he had to leave Côte d'Ivoire. At 15, he took a one-way flight alone to Florida, USA, to join the DME Academy.

In Daytona Beach, Diomande met Todd Eason. Eason served as the Director of Soccer at DME from April 2021 to January 2024, and then as the academy's Athletic Director until October 2024. After coming to the United States, Diomande finally transitioned from playing on bumpy dirt fields to training and competing on well-maintained natural grass pitches.

Despite not knowing any English at the time and missing his hometown terribly, Diomande quickly became an important player for DME and its semi-professional partner team, AS Frenzi. He helped AS Frenzi win the 2023 United Premier Soccer League championship and personally won the playoff MVP and Golden Boot awards.

However, these performances still did not help him secure a professional contract. Clubs such as Orlando City, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Rangers, and Olympiacos all had the opportunity to sign him but ultimately did not act.

Diomande then returned to his hometown, but the opportunity that truly changed his career soon appeared. In November 2024, Spanish club Leganés signed him. Four months later, he made his professional debut against Real Madrid.

Although Diomande ultimately could not prevent Leganés from being relegated, his performance in 10 La Liga matches was impressive enough. RB Leipzig then activated his €20 million release clause.

After joining Leipzig, Diomande quickly burst onto the scene, contributing 13 goals and 10 assists in 36 games and being named the Bundesliga Rookie of the Season. He also made his debut for the Côte d'Ivoire national team, participating in the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup. At the World Cup held in North America, he helped Côte d'Ivoire advance to the World Cup knockout stage for the first time in history.

Now, Diomande has returned to the Spanish capital. Real Madrid has signed him for €125 million, with a contract until 2033. This deal makes him the most expensive signing in Real Madrid's history. If all of the additional €15 million in potential add-ons are triggered, his transfer fee will rise from the seventh-highest to the fourth-highest in football history.

Todd Eason, who coached Diomande in the United States, subsequently gave an exclusive interview to Breaking The Lines, discussing his former protégé's upbringing and technical characteristics.

Question: Diomande played on dirt fields in Côte d'Ivoire as a child. Many European and American players are used to training on good pitches from a young age, but Diomande is not like that. To what extent do you think those experiences of playing on makeshift fields, even with balls that weren't really like footballs, shaped him into who he is today?

Eason: "I think it had a considerable impact. Most of the African players I've coached didn't grow up on meticulously maintained pitches; they would play on bumpy dirt fields, wearing sneakers, which is actually quite common. I even coached a player from South Sudan, and I feel his upbringing might have been even tougher than Diomande's. At least Diomande had entered the national team system and had access to corresponding resources and facilities."

"One of Diomande's biggest strengths is his ability to always control the ball while moving at high speed. I think this is definitely related to his past training on those uneven, rough, and even incomplete fields."

"That's also why he can handle the ball very comfortably under pressure or in tight spaces. Now he's playing on pitches as smooth as carpets, which he never had before. He's long been accustomed to more difficult environments, so those experiences definitely had a big impact on his style of play."

Question: What do you think is the area where Diomande needs to improve the most right now?

Eason: "Probably more on the defensive side. I've always said he's a very intelligent player. He constantly observes the distance between himself and defensive players based on the ball's position on the field. He can always put himself in a position where he can move appropriately forward and effectively participate in defense because he has that awareness."

"However, there are also times, especially in La Liga, when he gets beaten by opponents near the byline because he didn't anticipate that the opponent was going to go wide around him."

"But I can't watch his training every day now, and I've mainly been watching the World Cup recently. I also know there were a lot of off-field factors surrounding him during the World Cup, so it's hard to accurately determine what he still needs to improve on."

"If I had to say, I think the areas for improvement are more likely to be in defense, rather than offense. Offensively, whether it's one-on-one dribbling, crossing, or shooting, his success rate is very high, and he usually makes the right choices when attacking forward."

"Offensively, he's already top-tier. Defense might still have areas for improvement, but since I can't observe him live very often now, I can't be entirely sure."

Question: Diomande's reputation is obviously not comparable to Yamal or Vinicius, but if you were to rank wingers in world football, where do you think he currently stands?

Eason: "That's a difficult question. Winger is a very popular position now, and all teams are looking for good wingers."

"When I saw Diomande playing in La Liga, I would compare him to Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze. I even thought, 'I think Diomande is better than them.' It wasn't until he actually started playing against players like Yamal and Vinicius that I began to compare him with these wingers."

"I think he's a top-five winger in the world. As for how far he is from Yamal and Vinicius, it's hard to say, because they are actually different types of players."

"Diomande's characteristic is his unpredictability. I think Vinicius and Yamal are predictable to some extent . Yamal really wants to get the ball onto his left foot, and he prefers to break through in a specific direction. Although he has also cut inside to the right and scored goals, sometimes this approach may not be as efficient."

"Diomande is different. He can play well on either side and can perform all the tasks a coach asks a winger to do."

"From this perspective, he is a very versatile winger. Then we consider defensive ability. Is Diomande's defense better than Yamal's and Vinicius'? Perhaps."

"Yamal and Vinicius have always had greater attacking freedom; they can focus on going forward without worrying too much about what's behind them. But Diomande has never enjoyed that luxury. He has always had to balance both sides of the game."

"He attacks forward, and once the team loses possession, he has to track back immediately, because the teams he played for before were not as strong overall, so he had to participate in defense. If we go by that standard, I would say Diomande is more well-rounded than them, but this comparison is indeed very difficult."

Question: When was the last time you spoke with Diomande? How was he doing then?

Eason: "I went to Miami on July 3rd, after his World Cup was over. He happened to be there for some things, so I went over in the evening and spent some time with him, and also met his agent team."

"I finally got to sit down and talk to him properly, to see how he's doing. That was the last time we met, but we've also exchanged some friendly texts and chatted about things since then, and I'll ask about how he's doing."

"We probably communicate at least once a month. I was very happy to see him when he came to Florida that time."

Question: You obviously played a very important role in Diomande's development. What are you most proud of in your help to him and your relationship with him?

Eason: "He is very grateful. His goal is to take care of the people around him. I think he's the kind of person who is willing to take responsibility and care for others; he has that mindset."

"Of course, we spent more time together off the field in the past, such as driving him to tryouts, helping with visas, and so on. I think he respects that I was there for him and appreciates what I did to make his transition a little smoother. He has always been grateful for that."

"What makes me proud is that he respects these experiences and knows that these things did help him in some way."

"I'm really happy to see him enjoying football now. He can finally do what he has always wanted to do – provide for his family and take care of his loved ones."

"And even today, he still keeps in touch with me. Just that alone is far beyond what I initially imagined."

Question: Last question, do you know if DME will receive a share of Diomande's transfer fee to Real Madrid?

Eason: "Every player has an electronic player passport that records their development history. I saw one the other day that listed all the clubs eligible for relevant compensation."

"But because DME is a school, and Diomande was studying there on an I-20 student visa at the time, DME is not eligible for youth development compensation."

"Unfortunately, whether it's this move to Real Madrid or his previous transfer from Leganés to Leipzig, DME will not receive any fees."

"Some clubs in Côte d'Ivoire, Spain, and Germany, however, can receive youth development compensation from both transfers, which is of course good for them. As for DME, they are already very happy to be able to say, 'Diomande once played on our fields.'"

Question: I hope he at least sends you a bottle of champagne.

Eason: "When I went to see him in July this year, he gave me one of his jerseys, signed. That's all I wanted."

"I just love watching him play. That's all the reward he needs to give me."

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