Big shoes to fill: Yan Diomande takes over from Vinicius Junior at Real Madrid | Goal.com

Veröffentlicht am 10 Aug 2026 | Lesezeit: 2 Minuten

Real Madrid announced on Monday that the forward signed from Bundesliga club RB Leipzig will wear the number 25 shirt.

That puts Diomande in the company of some big names. Rodrygo, Eduardo Camavinga and Vinicius Junior all wore 25 at Real before switching numbers in Madrid. Rodrygo now wears 11, Camavinga 6 and Vini Jr. the iconic number 7, once worn by Cristiano Ronaldo at Los Blancos.

Under Spanish rules, professional players must wear squad numbers from 1 to 25, with 1 and 13 reserved for goalkeepers. If a club has a third professional goalkeeper, he usually wears 25. Right now, though, Madrid only have two keepers in the squad, Thibaut Courtois and Andriy Lunin.

So it is no surprise that several Real goalkeepers have also worn 25, including Courtois in his first season at the club, club legend Iker Casillas and Germany's Bodo Ilgner.

Last Thursday, the Madrid club finally completed Diomande's transfer after lengthy toing and froing. The Ivorian signed a contract in the Spanish capital until 2033, while Leipzig will receive a transfer fee of 125 million euros. Including bonus payments, the figure could reportedly rise to as much as 140 million euros.

On the base fee alone, Diomande is now joint third on the list of the biggest departures in Bundesliga history alongside Florian Wirtz, who moved from Leverkusen to Liverpool for 125 million euros in 2025. Only Jude Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid from BVB for 127 million euros in 2023, and Ousmane Dembele, who left BVB for Barcelona for 148 million euros in 2017, cost more.

At his unveiling, the 19-year-old said his move to Madrid had fulfilled "a childhood dream" for him: "I am all the more grateful to those responsible at RB Leipzig for making this move possible despite my ongoing contract."

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