RB Leipzig prepared to turn down €80-90 million offers for Yan Diomande amid Bayern links

Yan Diomande has been linked with a host of top clubs, including Bayern Munich, but RB Leipzig are not planning to let him go in any way, club boss Oliver Mintzlaff underlined on Saturday.

RB Leipzig would be ready to turn down offers in the region of 80-90 million for highly-coveted winger Yan Diomande, according to supervisory board chairman Oliver Mintzlaff.

Just around six months after joining Leipzig from Spanish outfit Leganes, Diomande is said to have caught the eye of Bayern Munich and a number of other European top clubs.

However, Die Roten Bullen have no interest in letting the 19-year-old go just yet.

“As chairman of the supervisory board, I would say he will definitely be with us next season – even if there were an offer of €80 or €90 million,” Oliver Mintzlaff told Sky on Saturday, adding that “not a single interested club has come forward yet.”

“You simply can’t let go of such a young player, whom we just signed, after only one year. He’s extremely young and playing his first Bundesliga season. We’ve worked to ensure that players can stay a bit longer.”

Mintzlaff did acknowledge, however, that keeping Diomande in the long term may be difficult.

“The truth is that, while we are a very ambitious Bundesliga club, there are also other top clubs. In the past, we have repeatedly had to let good players go – partly to generate transfer revenue, and partly because they were ready to take the next step in their careers.”

“A typical RB transfer”

Bayern board member for sport Max Eberl was also asked about Diomande in connection with Saturday’s 5-1 victory for the Bavarians at the Red Bull Arena.

Eberl spoke highly of the young winger, but explained that Bayern opted for a more experienced solution last summer in the form of Luis Díaz from Liverpool.

“It was a typical RB transfer,” Eberl said, praising Leipzig for “having the courage” to put a relatively high transfer fee – reportedly €20 million –on the table. 

“They did a good job there. We know the market fairly well. But with Lucho Díaz, we opted for an established player, where you have more reliability that he will perform immediately at Bayern. Of course, we are also working with young players.”

During a media round attended by Bulinews.com, RB Leipzig managing director for sport Marcel Schäfer recently revealed how Diomande’s move to Germany came about. Read the full article here.