Published: 12:00, 7 April 2026 | Updated: 12:00, 7 April 2026

Three years ago, Yan Diomande was playing fourth-tier amateur football in the United States. Now, at just 19, he has a €100million price tag on his head, and is being scouted extensively by Liverpool, Manchester United and Bayern Munich.

Diomande is one of the world’s most in-demand players heading into a summer where he will return to the States – the place he first burst onto the scene aged 15 – looking to play a starring role for his country at the World Cup.

If you speak to those who scouted, moulded and developed a shy young Ivorian into a Bundesliga record-breaker and a potential replacement for Mohamed Salah at Anfield, one attribute shines through.

‘He just keeps learning and adapting to circumstances – so that he can prepare himself for success,’ Todd Eason, a key figure in bringing Diomande to the US as a young teen, tells Daily Mail Sport.

Growing up in his neighbourhood of Sicogi, Abidjan, Diomande could not afford football boots. His mother suffered a number of health...