🚨🤍 𝗡𝗘𝗪: Yan Diomande emotional letter to his late sister:
"Dear Roxane,
Remember when somebody bought me a fake United jersey, and I wrote Ronaldo 7 on the back with the black marker?"
"We didn’t know rich or poor. We just knew happiness."
"Remember 25 people sleeping in one house back in Abidjan? Mum wanted to watch her soap operas. Everyone else wanted to watch movies. Remember how I always used to fake like I was asleep and then go into the TV room after midnight? I’d put the TV on real low. Just like 2 volume bars. I’d watch football in the dark and dream."
"Remember when the adults saw me playing football in the dirt and nicknamed me “Roberto Carlos” because of how hard I would shoot? And remember how I was secretly so mad about it, because CR7 was my idol?"
"Remember when I went to play so far from home? I was 9 years old. Inter Foot Sud Comoé, all the way near the Ghana border. Just a little boy on his own. I don’t know if I ever told you this story, but me and the other kids used to go into the village and steal potatoes because we were so hungry. We did a “bank heist.” Two kids distracting the shop owner, and 18 other kids running out with two potatoes. They weren’t even good. But they tasted amazing. Hahahah. It’s still my favorite thing to eat. Boiled potatoes with some oil. It reminds me of those times."
"Remember when I got my first real football boots, and I used to sleep with them? Growing up, I always played in those white plastic sandals. Even when I go back home now, I still play in them. It’s our tradition."
"Remember when I would come back home, and you would tell my friends from the neighborhood, “Why did you stop training? Yan is not going to buy you cars. You have to keep working."
"You were 10 years old, and already my agent."
"Remember how we used to sit and dream about moving to France? How we were going to go shopping and get our own apartment and I was going to be a rich footballer with cars and a big house, and you wouldn’t have to worry about nothing. You were the one who always believed that I could be the next Cristiano, when everybody else laughed."
"Remember when I moved to America for high school at 15, and I was so homesick? I didn’t know what anybody was saying for months. They sat me next to a French kid, and he tried to translate everything the teacher was saying. Remember when I called you, saying, “You won’t believe it, the kids here argue with teachers."
"Back home, you know we wouldn’t even dare to blink at our elders."
"Remember when I couldn’t believe the kids were smoking after school? You used to say it sounded like I was in an American TV show."
"Remember when they took me on trial at Bournemouth? At Chelsea, Rangers, Olympiacos, Crystal Palace? Eze and Olise even came up to me after one training and said, “Yo kid, you’re really good.”"
"But they still didn’t sign me."
"Even the B teams in the MLS didn’t want me. I didn’t even know why. They never gave me a reason. The adults handled everything. They just kept taking me all around Europe, and everybody kept saying no."
"My visa was up. My dream was over. They sent me back to Africa, and we cried together."
"You were the one who never stopped believing. A few weeks later, I signed for Leganés and we cried different tears."
"That was back when I used to have emotions. Now, I don’t feel anything. It’s like I’m not even human. Since you died, I’m just blank."
"I don’t even think I shed a tear the day they told me that you were gone. I was just in shock."
"It was a few weeks after I made my debut for Leganés. Who makes their debut at 18 against Real Madrid? It was too crazy. It was a dream."
"And then it was a nightmare. Someone kept calling me from back home. I was annoyed. I didn’t understand why they kept calling me."
"I picked up, and they didn’t even soften it. You know how it is back home. No emotions. Just……..
“Your sister is gone.”
“What?”
“She died.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Somebody put something in her drink at a party, and she never woke up. She is gone.”
"You were 15."
"15."
"I never got any answers. I don’t know if I want to know why. Maybe it was jealousy. Maybe it’s just something that happens in our country. Maybe I could have protected you. I don’t know."
"I try to trust God’s plan. It’s all I can do. I don’t try to forget, because I know I won’t forget. All I can do is use the pain to work harder, and to do everything we dreamed about."
"I wrote this because I can’t speak about it. I wrote this because I want you to know that I will make sure that you live on. I will make sure that everybody knows your name. The whole world."
"Everything I do on a football pitch, it’s for you."
"So much has happened since I last saw you…… You would not even believe it. I don’t know if I believe it."
"You know what’s crazy? After my debut against Madrid, I actually swapped shirts with Mbappé. Remember when we used to watch him on TV, and you’d say, “Mbappé? Yeah, he’s good. But my brother is better.”
"I was wrong about one thing. I don’t want to be rich. I see what it does to people, even to family. When I was at Leganés, everything I was earning, I was sending home. It got to the point where I didn’t even want money anymore. It was just a burden. They never stopped asking. I guess they thought I was a millionaire already. I didn’t even have an apartment. I was living at the training ground in a room with no TV. Just football and sleep, football and sleep."
"I didn’t want a big house. I didn’t want cars. I just wanted to put everything into football. Everything to show the world that my sister was right……."
"Ha…. you will think this is funny. When I moved to play at RB Leipzig, I was always late. Well, not late. But I was on time, which in Germany means you’re very late."
"So you already know what I did next. I started arriving 90 minutes early to everything. I was so early all the time that the guys started calling me “The German.”"
"I always have to overdo everything. I have zero chill. You always said that."
"The pitch is the only place that I feel at home anymore. It’s the place where I feel calm, and I can speak to you. I just wish you were still here so I could tell you….. We did it."
"Everything you said came true."
"We’re leaving for the World Cup tomorrow. For real. Your brother is going to play for Côte d'Ivoire, like Drogba, like Yaya, like Gervinho."
"I don’t even look at it like a game. I look at it like a stage. This is my chance to show the whole world what you saw in me. Every time I score, I’ll make sure everybody knows your name. I’ll make sure they don’t forget you."
"You always said that I could be better than Cristiano. If I see him there, I’ll tell him hello for you."
"I’m going to do what you predicted, I swear. Before I even had real boots, you were telling everybody, “My brother is going to be the greatest in the world.”
"I will prove that you were right, or I will die trying... Your brother, Yan."
— @PlayersTribune
Statement from The Lewis Family to Spurs supporters: "To the fans, As owners of 25 years, we have lived the highs and lows of Spurs with you. Finishing 17th this and last season does not reflect the stature or potential of this football club. (Contd)
The way the players speak about De Zerbi, you’d be amazed if any of them will want to leave in the summer. He’s done so much more than keep us up. He’s made the players remember the privilege they have in playing for Tottenham Hotspur. He’s made it a place you want to be. Next season has the potential to make supporting this club a pleasure for the first time in a long time. Everyone should buy in to it. COYS
Unbeaten in 4. Drew with Brighton when they’d won 5 out of their last 6. Beat Wolves when in their previous 3 home games they’d got 7 points from Arsenal, Villa and Liverpool. Won away at Villa when no one expected a thing. And now a point against a Leeds side unbeaten since March who’ve got 4 points from their last two away games at United & Bournemouth.
We’re playing with every single one of our creative players out injured. We’ve got Kolo Muani on the right because we have literally no other option. We’re grinding out results, and it’s not pretty to watch. But 8 points from 4 games is a minor miracle when we’d achieved 3 points from our previous 12 games.
As I keep saying. Positivity and belief, not doom pushing and dread, is what is going to keep us up. Everyone else wants us down - tell them all to fuck off and say we’re not going anywhere. Oh, and Madders is back. COYS
In one of our last 2 games we have to somehow win at a horrible stadium where we have about 2 wins in 40 years, where the owners are mental clowns with no plan other than to keep sacking managers. We also have to go to Chelsea.
A six-minute VAR delay with 25 replays to decide which of the multiple set-piece wrestling manoeuvres was clearly and obviously worthy of punishment. A fittingly decisive moment for the 2025-26 Premier League season.
Spurs are capitalising playing against a rotated side that has played Thursday night football this week.
We had the same opportunity a few weeks ago against Palace and didn’t take it.
People were saying the point was a good one at the time - absolute bollocks.
St George was born in Turkey and is the patron saint of Palestine
St George never visited England
St George represnts much of Europe, the middle east and Africa
If St George came here today, Reform UK would deport him
Happy St George’s day
It’s properly shit right now isn’t it 😂 but please don’t let it get to you. A few weeks back after Forest, I caught myself getting properly down, even snapping at family. Embarrassing. I had to have a word with myself. It’s not worth it.
We’re all powerless. We’ve watched from afar while the owners and leadership have fucked it up over and over again, and there is nothing we could’ve done about it, nothing would have changed anything. They never listened to fans, Levy despised us. Vinai ignored us, We are a nuisance.
I couldn’t give a shit about the other clubs, the fans banter and all that, fuck ‘em. Let them laugh if they can’t see this for what it is. We and this club has been fucked over by greed, it’s disgusting, it’s not banter, it’s a clear sign of owners and leaders who care for nothing apart from their own pockets. We are constantly told that Levy was a business genius, was he fuck, that Vinai is the best in the business, is he bollocks, greed, incompetence, arrogance and the biggest failure in the history of the league.
That’s on them, not us.
No matter what happens, Tottenham will still exist, we will just be playing different teams. I’ll still be in Tottenham with my mates, so will you, a few beers, having a laugh, watching the football. It’s as simple as that.
Cheer up. It ain’t over yet, we will still get behind them and hope they click, but don’t let it drag you down.
Up the Spurs!
It talks to just how dreary and detestable Arsenal's brand of football is - led by a manager who is massively dislikeable - that they're making the vast majority of neutrals root for the biggest gang of cheats in the history of English football.
#COYS
Under Thomas Frank, Tottenham averaged eight player absences (GW-to-GW) in the Premier League...
That compares to 5.7 under Ange Postecoglou...
In terms of availability, Spurs' cumulative absence increased by almost 40% over the first 26 GWs of the season...