Ivorian Talent at RB Leipzig Eyes World Cup and Future Departure
In the middle of a World Cup he has long dreamed of, the young Ivorian talent at RB Leipzig has made his position crystal clear: this is likely his last chapter in Saxony.
Pressed on the growing noise from Europe’s biggest clubs, he didn’t dodge. He embraced it.
“First of all I think, like I said, my dream is playing for my country, and to make history with my country,” he told reporters, anchoring every answer in the orange of Ivory Coast rather than the colours of any club badge. Then came the line that will echo around boardrooms across the continent: “I expect to leave, of course.”
No drama. No social-media theatre. He has stripped that away himself.
“I don't have Instagram anymore. I don't have TikTok as well, so I can't see anything!” he said, almost amused by the idea that his future is being debated on platforms he no longer uses. The message is simple: let everyone else scroll and speculate; he has a World Cup to play.
The rest, he insists, belongs to his entourage. “I have an agent, he's going to manage the rest. But for me, the most important thing right now is the focus on the World Cup with my country.” In an era where transfer sagas are drip-fed online, his stance feels almost old-fashioned: football first, negotiations in the background.
Yet his heart has never been a secret. Long before this World Cup shop window, he had already revealed where his childhood loyalties lay. Speaking to French media, he admitted that one club in particular shaped his imagination.
“Paris Saint-Germain is a team I've loved since I was little. I think my father was a PSG supporter. It's a team I admire as a football fan.”
Those words will not go unnoticed in Paris. Nor in London, Madrid, or anywhere else that hunts for the next cornerstone of a project.
For now, though, the picture is stark. A rising Ivorian star, a World Cup stage, and a looming exit from Leipzig that he himself expects. The next move will be drawn up in agents’ offices and club suites, far from the noise of social media.
His focus, as he keeps repeating, is on history with his country. The question is which crest he will wear when he returns to club football after chasing that dream.
