Rangers have had a number of transfer misses in recent years, but they still will regret not securing the services of Yan Diomande.
The Ibrox outfit have cast their scouting network pretty wide and have previously turned to North and South America for emerging young talents.
They did so and had a 16-year-old Diomande, now at RB Leipzig, trialling for them when he was at fourth-tier American outfit AS Frenzi.
Yan Diomande reveals agent scuppered move to Rangers
Back in September, Diomande confirmed that he was on trial at Rangers, as he was keen on moving to the Glasgow outfit.
However, he claims that his agent was demanding too much money, and that is why the move did not go ahead.
The Ivorian even played a game for the B team in a friendly game against AS Monaco at Ibrox.
This happened in October 2023, and at the time, Diomande was only a student at the DME Academy in Florida.
As his move to Rangers did not materialise, he returned to the States, joining Leganes a year later, before he moved to RB Leipzig.
Speaking about his failed move to the Gers, Diomande said: “I was scouted at an international tournament. To prepare for a professional career in Europe, I transferred to an academy in Florida.
“Two years later, I was on trial at Glasgow Rangers. It’s not true that I didn’t want to sign for them – my agent at the time demanded too much money.”
Why Rangers will regret not signing Diomande
Diomande has grown from strength to strength at RB Leipzig and is understood to be worth £87m, according to Sky Sports Germany.
The Gers could have signed him at a nominal fee and paid a bit above the odds to his agent to make the deal happen, and will surely be regretting it now.
He is now one of the best Under-21 players in the world and has top clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool and Bayern Munich keen on securing his services.
In the current Bundesliga season, which is his debut campaign in Germany, he has already scored nine goals and provided six assists in 23 league games.
If he is achieving this at 19 in one of Europe’s best leagues, he would certainly have thrived in the Scottish Premiership even as a 17-year-old
With clubs circling around him, he could have also become the league’s most expensive export of all time.
