If nothing else gives away Rangers’ historical failures with young players, it’s Yan Diomande.
This lad is the talk of the football world now, securing as he has a colossal move from RB Leipzig to Real Madrid for an incredible £100M+.
His numbers are solid. 23 goals and assists in 36 tells its own story. Not record-breaking, but clearly a world class player in the making.
And yes, he failed a trial at Rangers a few years ago, around October 2023.
Bad Fortune
This was an unfortunate period for Rangers as Michael Beale had just been sacked, and Steven Davis was in temporary charge.
And plucking youth was not in his remit. Just trying to guide Rangers for a week or two.
So Yan Diomande was an opportunity lost. He shone v Monaco for Rangers’ B team, but for whatever reason was not offered a contract.
And today he’s the absolute toast of the football world, on the verge of a blockbuster switch to Real Madrid for that incredible price for his age.
Diomande starred at the world cup. Just the one assist, admittedly, for the Ivory Coast, but the potential is there for him to go to the top of the game. If he isn’t already there, admittedly.
Blame?
We’re not going to blame anyone for Rangers missing out on such a star.
We were between managers, and Davo was doing his best to keep the club afloat. The last thing he was able to do was watch the kids.
The question is why youth coach, and still at Ibrox David McCallum, didn’t spot Diomande’s brilliance.
Sure, you can’t get them all right, but this 16-year-old prodigy surely sparkled enough that an experience coach like McCallum surely must have picked up on it.
He didn’t, and in his defence, he himself had only just been appointed in the role of head coach. He would have been on cloud nine with the promotion. But he was experienced with youth.
Que sera. Opportunity lost and he might just be up there with one of the greats that Rangers missed out on, including Messi and Ronaldo.
Oh well.