RB Leipzig's managing director, Marcel Schafer, has spoken out publicly on their player Yan Diomande and the interest from Real Madrid in signing him this summer.
Even though there is no football on at the moment, and we are in that sticky area between the World Cup and the start of the domestic season, there is plenty of news when it comes to Real Madrid.
There is the unwanted contract saga regarding superstar forward, Vinicius Jr, as well as the clear interest in signing Manchester City and Spain national team midfielder Rodri. Real Madrid
On top of that, there is the drama regarding the delayed signing of Yan Diomande of RB Leipzig. It has now been over a week since high profile Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano used his "Here we Go" catchphrase to imply that the move to Real Madrid was imminent and a matter of when not if.
Well, last night it was reported that the hold up is due to the player's agent. Recently, Diomande switched from his former agent Max Gradel to the Roc Nation agency, and Gradel is so unhappy about this that he is filing a complaint to FIFA. Until that is resolved, more and more hold up looks likely.
Amidst the chaos of this all, RB Leipzig managing director Marcel Schafer was asked by Sky Germany about the potential transfer of Diomande to Real Madrid, to which he responded by saying: "It's clear that some so called transfer experts reported a few days ago that the deal was done or gave it the 'Here we Go'.
That's simply not the case. We're not at that stage yet." To follow up, Sky Germany asked whether the aforementioned agent dispute could cause the deal to fall through, with his response being: "From my perspective, it's a clear no. I'm not aware of that. There has been a change of agents.
Our point of contact is now Roc Nation - that's something Yan (Diomande) made very clear to us [...] I don't think a transfer would fall through because of that, if it even comes to a transfer in the first place."
Well, safe to say that he is calling out Romano for jumping the gun. And the last sentence is perhaps not the most encouraging from a Real Madrid point of view. However, it is worth noting that he says we're not at that stage "yet", perhaps implying a deal will happen at some point. It is also very useful to hear that the agency issue shouldn't hold up any potential deal.
Blimey, what a crazy saga this has turned out to be, and we are not done yet. Let's see what happens.
