Leny Yoro, Leny Yoro, Leny Yoro. Try saying that fast! Real tongue twister.
Anywho, but who is Leny Yoro, a player highly regarded as the next big thing when looking at how many big clubs are in for him given the reputation he’s built over the past season.
A Brief History
Leny Yoro was born in the French capital of Paris in 2005 making him just 18-YEARS-OLD!
Son of a gun! 2005 was 18 year ago?!
That makes one feel old 😕.
2017 was the year he joined the Lille academy and is the club he’s been with ever since.
But it wasn’t until the end of the 21/22 season that he made his first-team debut which saw him feature in the club’s second-last game of the campaign in a 3–1 win over Nice of all teams! This was a day after he turned 16.
What a gift.
Player Profile
As mentioned, he is 18 and plays for Lille in the French league. Yoro is the right centre-back which makes sense given that his strong foot is his right-foot and standing at 1.9m tall, that makes him a relatively big guy.
With how he’s performed this past season (23/24), how highly sort after he is and that he has one year left on his contract, Transfermarkt have him priced at €50m (£42m) which is a reasonable amount in this day and age for a player with all his attributes.
However, we know with the Man Utd tax, Yoro will most likely cost us around £75m 😐.
Style of Play
The 18-year-old has a multitude of aspects to his game that will put smiles on coaches’ faces across the football world.
As he is nigh on 2m tall, in the past season, Leny Yoro won 96.4% of his aerial duels which is pretty incredible. He’s also won 74.5% of his defensive duels.
This shows that he’s not only strong at winning the ball in the air, he’s also strong at winning the ball full stop.
One thing about Yoro is that he prefers to stay on the cover and doesn’t like to engage his opponent. Thanks to his good positional awareness and strong reading of the game, the youngster doesn’t actually have to react to most situations as he is already in a decent position to get the ball.
He is also very good technically as he is good on the ball and is quite calm under pressure, two aspects needed as a modern-day defender.
As he is so tall, he has a long stride which allows him to cover ground relatively quickly. This means that due to his preference of playing on the cover combined with that relative quickness, it can allow United to play a higher line.
But one particular weakness of his is when having to engage. The French defender struggles where he comes up against an opponent and can be found wanting.
Yoro is also not the strongest guy so he will need to bulk up and improve his physicality especially if he does come to the Premier League.
Compatibility with Lisandro Martinez
The Butcher is the likeliest centre-back to partner Yoro should he join United. This also makes sense as Martinez is left-footed.
With Martinez’s more aggressive and engaging style, this already shows that the two of them could work together.
As I said, Yoro does favour sitting back and playing on the cover so with Martinez engaging an opponent, we will have that one centre-back to sweep up should there be any mishaps.
The Butcher also does like to step up into midfield occasionally so to have that one spare CB, is a good thing.
Leny Yoro can also cover in defense with his speed something we know we need when wanting to push up. Martinez is also not a defender known for his pace which is why it's important to have one fast centre-back.
The two of them do have good technical skills, are great in possession, neither panic under pressure, can read the game pretty well and Yoro has the height that Martinez lacks which we saw can work whenever he and Varane played together.
The left-foot, right-foot combo is also essential for that balance and playing out from the back.
Injury History
None. Leny Yoro doesn’t have any noticeable injury history to concern United when looking at bringing him to the club.
Considering how injury-plagued we were last season (and particularly at centre-back), we can’t afford to be bringing in another player with that issue.
In fact, last season (23/24), Yoro was ranked 5th for the teenager with the most minutes played (2672) which is two spots and 96 minutes more than our own Alejandro Garnacho.
The fact that Yoro (and I suppose Garnacho) can play such a large amount of minutes is a positive.
However, the one big issue with Yoro has nothing to do with him as a player but rather,
Real Madrid.
Yes, the recently-crowned 15-times champions of Europe are also highly linked with the youngster. Most of the feelings are that they will bring him to Madrid with United having to pull something out of the hat to get him to Manchester.
There was some talk last week that United had put down a €60m bid for Yoro but reports in Spain have “played down” those rumors, according to The Athletic.
We also know that when we have competition for signings, we lose. Can INEOS change that is the question.
Final Thoughts
It is difficult to think that this guy has soooooooo many great attributes at just 18-years-old.
He appears to have everything needed for a centre-back of the modern game and exactly what United are looking for especially with the recent departure of Raphael Varane.
Real Madrid seem to be the only major issue ruling him out of a move to United.
But Leny Yoro is a player for the future and I wouldn’t mind him partnering the Butcher at Old Trafford next season. Would you?
Background: Leny Yoro | Creator: SAMEER AL-DOUMY | Credit: AFP via Getty Images - Liverpool FC News