14 May 2026 11:50 BST |<\/span> Cameron Smith Accredited sports journalist covering football since 2020 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n RB Leipzig starlet Yan Diomande has admitted that he would be \u201chappy and motivated\u201d if he joined Premier League giants Chelsea.<\/p>\n The Ivory Coast winger, 19, has been in sublime form since arriving at Leipzig from Leganes last summer and he has emerged as a transfer target for a plethora of elite clubs across Europe.<\/p>\n Diomande has scored 13 goals and provided eight assists in 35 appearances across all competitions so far this season, and he has been earmarked as Liverpool\u2019s dream replacement for club legend Mohamed Salah, as per multiple reports.<\/p>\n The likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain are keen on landing him too, while Chelsea have also been touted as possible suitors, with the west London club eager to bolster their attacking options following the disappointing debut campaigns of Liam Delap, Jamie Gittens and Alejandro Garnacho.<\/p>\n The Blues are believed to be prioritising the addition of a new central defender this summer, but adding a versatile forward is also on their agenda and they could be encouraged to pursue a deal for Diomande following his recent comments.<\/p>\n Leipzig have insisted that a sale will not be sanctioned this summer, with the club set to demand a fee in excess of \u20ac100 million to finalise a transfer, but Chelsea could still chase his signature, especially if they are able to offload Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi, Tyrique George and several others on permanent deals.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Diomande was asked how he feels about transfer speculation linking him with the biggest clubs in Europe. \u201cOf course, if you imagine someone saying you have to go to Chelsea or Real Madrid to do this job, you\u2019re going to be happy and motivated to do more,\u201d he admitted (via BuliNews<\/b>).<\/p>\n \u201cBut I don\u2019t think about this kind of thing because I\u2019m trying to be focused on the pitch. Because my job is playing football, I leave everything else outside the pitch. It gives me a lot of motivation to see clubs speak about me. I’m focused.\u201d<\/p>\n Diomande added: \u201cMy contract runs until 2030, so I have four more years.<\/p>\n “I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen after that. I\u2019m a Leipzig player.\u201d<\/p>\n The Ivorian spent just six months at Leganes before completing a move to Leipzig last summer and he remains incredibly grateful to the Bundesliga outfit for taking a chance on him.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a big motivation because nobody knew me before. Paying \u20ac20m for a player that nobody knows is a lot. That was a big risk for them, and I\u2019m thankful for that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI will never forget this opportunity. It’s not only about playing football. The club has helped me a lot off the pitch. The media only sees me on the pitch, but the club has helped me a lot with my family and my mum.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m very grateful, and the only thing I can do to say thanks is to give everything on the pitch, and that’s what I’m trying to do every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Chelsea to complete ‘the deal of the summer’ with \u20ac38m Garnacho replacement<\/b><\/p>\n Fabrizio Romano Transfer News: Carrick to stay, operation Mourinho, Chelsea manager race<\/b><\/p>\n Transfer Rumours: Man Utd chase Bellingham as \u20ac50m Chelsea demand revealed<\/b><\/p>\n Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.<\/p>\n The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:<\/p>\n \u2022Google Play<\/b><\/p>\n \u2022App Store<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 14 May 2026 11:50 BST | 4 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Cameron Smith | Digital…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Yan Diomande responds to transfer interest<\/h2>\n
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