Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has been hard at work this summer transfer window, signing top players to help support Jose Mourinho as he looks to boost the club after two straight seasons without a trophy. Frustratingly, Perez was not this interested in upgrading the defense and the midfield when Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane were coaching the club, but there is a different level of affinity that Flo appears to have with Jose.
Mourinho has signed Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konate, and Marc Cucurella in defense with Manchester City's Bernardo Silva joining as a free agent midfielder. And there is optimism that Mourinho will land another big center back before the window closes.
But for now, Real Madrid are obsessed with bringing in Rodri after his sensational World Cup and now, at the request of Mourinho, Yan Diomande out of nowhere. Everyone thought Real Madrid would be pushing for Michael Olise, but instead they are after another great Bundesliga winger in the Ivory Coast international.
Real Madrid are going to have to pay extra
Earlier this transfer window, Florentino Perez promised a Galactic signing of 150 million euros - a player on the level of Zinedine Zidane or Cristiano Ronaldo, among others. Everyone immediately went to Olise, with Real using Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez as a smoke screen.
That promise got everyone excited at the time, but now it could cost Real Madrid significant millions. Because according to a report from transfer journalist Ben Jacobs, via the Madrid Zone, RB Leipzig want a fixed 130 million euros from a Diomande transfer, and they are pointing to Perez's comments about a Galactico and that he promised fans he would sign a player for 150 million euros.
Perez may argue that Yan Diomande is not the level of a Cristiano Ronaldo or Zinedine Zidane, but not only will RB Leipzig point to Perez also naming Jude Bellingham as one of those players, they will also argue that Diomande could very well become those players with how talented he is.
There are a lot of things people can say about Florentino, but nobody can say he is a liar. And he hates to fail his promises, which is why when he gets obsessed about a player, he locks in. He probably meant Michael Olise with the Galactic promise, but at the age of 19 and after what he did in the Bundesliga, Diomande is just as big of a signing. Unfortunately, Perez's words may cost him 10-20 million euros extra.
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