The touching life story of Yan Diomande

Raised in a household of 25 people, he had to sneakily watch football, played barefoot on muddy fields, and his sister's death at age 15 became the biggest driving force in his life.

Moving and inspiring, though only 19, Diomande is a remarkable figure in world football today.

Sleeping with his shoes hugged.

Diomande grew up in Abidjan, the most populous city in Ivory Coast, in a house where 25 people lived together. As a child, football was just games on dirt fields with white flip-flops. "We didn't know if we were rich or poor. We only knew what happiness was," Yan recalled, often waiting for his mother to sleep before turning on the old TV to watch football in the dark.

He had to watch secretly, with the volume only turned up "two notches." And he dreamed that one day he would become one of the players appearing on the blurry screen in front of him. It was in that circumstance that Yan took his first steps, eventually soaring unstoppably. Yan achieved what seemed impossible.

At just 9 years old, Diomande had to travel near the Ghana border to train at Inter Foot Sud Comoe. His talent was early evident. Yan shot the ball so hard that people nicknamed him "Roberto Carlos." But that nickname didn't please Diomande. Yan's idol was Cristiano Ronaldo. Once, Diomande was given a fake Manchester United shirt and wrote Ronaldo's name and number on the back himself.

It wasn't until he was nearly 10 that his family could afford to buy Diomande his first pair of football shoes. They had to save for a long time to buy an otherwise ordinary item. Yan was so happy that he slept hugging his "treasure." Just like he used to hug his little sister Roxane. Diomande then called her his "agent." Roxane was his biggest supporter. She was his whole life within his life.

At 15, Diomande had the opportunity to go to the US as part of an African football talent search program. There, Yan suffered one of the biggest shocks in his pursuit of the dream. No team wanted him, from Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Rangers, Olympiakos. No MLS club was convinced.

Diomande tried out in North America and then went to Europe. Yan remembers playing with Eze and Olise, who praised his performance: "Hey kid, you play really well." Those words of encouragement couldn't comfort Diomande.

Life changed

His visa expired, Diomande had to return to Ivory Coast. "My dream was over. They sent me back to Africa and we cried together," Diomande wrote in an emotional letter to Roxane on The Players' Tribune. It was Roxane who encouraged her brother the most, advising Yan not to give up and to keep playing football.

Then a door opened. Leganes discovered him and signed a contract on the day Yan turned 18. In January 2025, Diomande set off for Madrid, crying with joy.

Diomande had just touched heaven when he immediately fell into hell. On March 29, he made his debut for Leganes at the Bernabéu, in his first call-up to the first team. Then the phone rang. Roxane had passed away. "My family told me that someone put something in her drink at a party and she never woke up again," Diomande said.

Roxane was only 15. Diomande's soul was completely shattered. "I think I didn't even shed a tear. I was just in shock, as if I was no longer human. Since she passed, there's only emptiness inside me." Since then, every goal Yan has dedicated to Roxane. Everything Diomande does is for his sister. "I wish you were still here so I could tell you... we made it."

Yan wrote: "Even before I had a real pair of football shoes, you went around telling everyone: 'My brother will become the best player in the world.' I will prove you right, or die trying." Yan did it. Real Madrid once failed to discover the gem just 30km from the Bernabéu and now made Diomande the most expensive signing in club history (125+15 million euros).

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