At 15, Diomande flew solo to Florida to join DME Academy. Despite speaking no English, he quickly adapted and led semi-pro affiliate AS Frenzi to the 2023 UPSL title, though local MLS side Orlando City infamously passed on the opportunity to recruit him.
“I think he did slip through the cracks,” former coach Todd Eason revealed to FourFourTwo. “I had told some representatives at Orlando City, ‘Hey, I’ve got a kid coming that looks pretty special, and I would love him to come down and train with the B team.’ But they just kept delaying and delaying.
“I was very disappointed that Orlando City wouldn’t come 45 minutes to watch him or at least take them into camp. I do think MLS teams have probably dropped the ball a lot on some domestic talent that have come through, but every team’s a little bit different, so you can’t really speak on all that. Orlando City was the one that I was really disappointed in: you couldn’t go out of your way to see this kid play, and now you lost your chance.”