Diomande balances World Cup rise with personal grief

TORONTO: Ivory Coast winger Yan Diomande is emerging as one of his country's key attacking players at the World Cup, two years after leaving the United States following unsuccessful Major League Soccer trials and while coping with the death of his younger sister last year.

The 19-year-old made his senior debut for Ivory Coast in October and scored in each of his first two international appearances. He is set to face Germany in Toronto on Saturday, a match carrying extra significance because he previously lived in the United States and now plays his club football in Germany with RB Leipzig.

Emotional tribute to his sister

In a post published on the Players' Tribune website on Thursday under the title Dear Roxane, Diomande wrote about the loss of his 15-year-old sister, who died after a stranger spiked her drink at a party. Reflecting on how football has helped him process the tragedy, he wrote "The pitch is the only place that I feel at home anymore. It’s the place where I feel calm, and I can speak to you. I just wish you were still here so I could tell you…. We did it".

He also wrote about the unanswered questions he continues to carry over her death and whether he could have protected her. In the same post, he said "I never got any answers. I don’t know if I want to know why. Maybe it was jealousy. Maybe it’s just something that happens in our country. Maybe I could have protected you. I don’t know".

Diomande added that the speed of events in his life since then still feels hard to believe. He wrote "So much has happened since I last saw you... You would not even believe it. I don’t know if I believe it".

Rapid rise in Europe

Diomande told AFP and other media in May that he was trying not to look too far ahead despite reported interest linking him with Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain, along with talk of a 100 million euro ($116 million) valuation.

"I'm not the person who likes to be in the future so quickly", he stated.

He added "I'm going step by step because I have a new dream every day... I want to be one of the best. But I want to go slowly, slowly, step by step to reach what I can do".

Before moving to Europe, Diomande had gone to a sports high school in Florida after leaving Africa. He said he had trials with Charlotte FC and Colorado Rapids in MLS but no agreement was reached.

"I don't think it was because of my talent. It's because of the discussions -- we just couldn't find a good way", he stated.

He later trained with several European clubs, including Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Olympiacos, before signing for Leganes in November 2024. Seven months later, he completed a move to Leipzig.

Leipzig sporting director Marcel Schaefer said the German club had identified the player very early in his development.

"We were really early. I think he hadn't even played 200 minutes in the league and we were already there. It was clear from the first day on", he stated.

Schaefer said key figures at the club, including Red Bull global head of football Jurgen Klopp, quickly backed the move after reviewing the data and footage.

"It was an ideal situation. In touch with Jurgen Klopp... who saw the data and the video clips, and everybody was like 'go, go, go'", he added.

Focus on Germany test

After scoring 12 goals and providing eight assists in his first Bundesliga campaign, Diomande said life in Germany had helped improve his discipline.

In Germany, there's no life. The life here is only work. It's work, work and work. I learned a lot about discipline because in Spain, it's a little bit relaxed.

Although speculation has continued over a possible high-value transfer this summer, Diomande said his attention remains on the World Cup. He will come up against Germany left-back David Raum, his teammate and captain at Leipzig, and said he was looking forward to the contest.

"We are teammates and he's my captain, he's a good guy. Sometimes we speak, (saying) I'm going to kill you, or I'm going to do something else like this. But we're still friends so it's going to be good to play against each other and change jerseys", he stated.