Real Madrid have faced a lot of external criticism - and even some internally from fans - for spending a whopping 140 million euros on former Leganes winger Yan Diomande, who is only coming off one great season at the top flight level in European football.
But Diomande's going rate was always going to be well above 100 million euros after he was a top five player in the Bundesliga at the age of 18, showed great maturity in carrying RB Leipzig, and has so much potential with very little coaching yet imprinted upon a player who already led the Ivory Coast by example at the World Cup this year.
And in just a few minutes of action off the bench against Espanyol in his Real Madrid debut, Diomande played a role in helping Los Blancos win a tough game 2-1 and showed great maturity and composure in the final third with his decision making, accuracy of passing, and quality to keep possession on the ball in contrast to the other forwards with more experience.
Yan Diomande's decision making is a real plus for Real Madrid
Real Madrid previously had young gems Franco Mastantuono and Endrick on the right wing, and even though those guys are very talented and about the same age as Diomande, the Ivorian right winger quickly proved why he is cut from a different cloth than those two - and why Real had to loan Mastantuono and needed to sign Diomande to start over Endrick.
Simply put, the 19 year old RB Leipzig grad is a much, much better decision maker than either Mastantuono or Endrick. Those two really struggled to keep the ball and pick out the right passes, so Real Madrid would leave points on the table, even against inferior opposition, because their right wing options had issues in the first half of the last season with making the right decisions. Real Madrid eventually just had to phase those guys out entirely.
Yan Diomande still has work to do before he can come anywhere near the much more creative Arda Guler in terms of chance creation, even on the right wing, but once he kicks into high gear with his dribbling quality and explosiveness, he will get starts as the clear best option on that flank.
But it is already hugely encouraging for Real Madrid to see that Diomande is sharp mentally and making the right decisions with his passing, as he was billed on his strengths being more about dribbling and athleticism; he is far closer to a finished product than many Madridistas thought, too.
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