Jose Mourinho on Yan Diomandé’s impact against Leipzig:
“I had a conversation with Yan before the match. I told him, ‘Today, you might not play. And if you play, it might only be 20 minutes.’
He looked at me and said, ‘Mister, 20 minutes is enough.’
I said, ‘Enough for what?’
He said, ‘To help us win.’
I told him, ‘Good. Then be ready.’
Now, I have worked with many talented young players. Some have fantastic ability, but they need everybody to tell them how good they are. They want promises. They want minutes. They want guarantees.
Yan doesn’t ask me for guarantees.
He asks me when he’s going on.
When I brought him on tonight, I gave him a simple instruction. ‘Attack the space. Don’t complicate the game.’
A few minutes later, he gives Kylian the pass for the third goal.
Fine. Very good.
Then, near the end, he scores that volley.
And this is where I became a little angry.
Because after the goal, he looked towards the bench with this enormous smile, as if he wanted to ask me something.
After the match, I said, ‘Yan, what was that look?’
He said, ‘Mister, next time can I have 30 minutes?’
I told him, ‘You are becoming a problem.’
He started laughing.
But I was serious.
Because now every time I leave him on the bench, people will look at me and ask why. Every time I substitute another player, they will expect Yan to come on. And every time he comes on, they will expect him to score a goal like that.
This is what happens when you give a young player an opportunity and he doesn’t behave like a young player.
He makes your decisions more difficult.
But I like these problems. I have always liked them.
At Real Madrid, talent is not enough. You need personality. You need character. You need to believe you belong here even when you’re surrounded by some of the best players in the world.
Yan has that.
I told him after the game, ‘Enjoy tonight. Tomorrow, you train like everybody else.’
He said, ‘Of course, Mister.’
Then he asked me again about the 30 minutes.
You see what I have to deal with? :))”
[ This is the source @ChinoUTD ]