Two down, two to go!
Leny Yoro was perhaps the most unlikely of United’s four ‘core’ targets due to his initial preference for Real Madrid, but to their immense credit, the new United hierarchy have played a masterstroke and have convinced the young Frenchman to sign on the dotted line. Yoro has already played one pre-season game; a 2-0 victory over Rangers on Saturday where he showed some promising moments.
It remains to be seen what Yoro’s signing means for our other defensive targets: De Ligt and Branthwaite. Many people thought it was ‘two of three’, so now that Yoro is on board, who else will we go for?
At this point, with Everton effectively pricing us out for Branthwaite, De Ligt still looks the most likely – but that’s for another day.
Let’s take a look at our new French wonderkid: Leny Yoro.
Leny Yoro
Against the odds Leny Yoro was United’s second singing of the season after Joshua Zirkzee
Position: Centre back
Previous club: Lille
Nationality: French
Age: 18
Height: 6’3″
Transfer Fee: £52.2m
Club appearances 23/24: 44
Club goals/clean sheets 23/24: 3/20
Profile
Yoro came through the Lille youth system, and made his debut appearance for the senior team in the 21/22 season at just 16. this made him the second-youngest Lille player, pushing Eden Hazard into third spot.
He progressed again in the 22/23 season, in which he played 13 times, including 8 starts. Towards the end of 2023 he was the only defender across Europe to be in the top 10% for both successful ground and aerial duels, and was one of Ligue 1’s best passers with a completion rate around 92%.
Yoro’s real breakthrough came last season, where he earned his starting place and played 32 out of 34 league matches, helping the French club into the Champions League playoff spot. He was the second most-used player in the whole league, and also helped Lille to a deep Europa Conference League run, in which they were memorably knocked out by Aston Villa on penalties in the quarter final.
In 23/24 Yoro was chosen for the French ‘Team of the year’ and nominated as ‘Young player of the year’.
Yoro’s Lille were knocked out of the 23/34 Europa Conference League on penalties by Aston Villa
At United
Yoro is already a huge talent, who many think could go on to be a ‘generational talent’ and re-define the centre-back role in years to come.
A right-footed defender, he primarily plays at right centre-back, and would complement Martinez at left centre-back well.
He isn’t afraid of getting stuck into a tackle, but is naturally less aggressive than the Argentine (who isn’t!?). Yoro relies on intelligence, timing and positioning when defending central spaces. He didn’t have the highest number of duels for Lille in 23/24, but he did have the highest success rate (69.4%), and often forces attackers into mistakes even if he doesn’t win the ball cleanly. Put simply – it is very hard to dribble or turn past Leny Yoro.
At 6’3″ he has a natural advantage in the air, and tends to win around 2/3 (65%) of aerial duels. This is high, but there are defenders with even higher stats here, and there is the potential for this to get even better as his frame fills out and his positioning improves further.
One place Leny Yoro excels is passing; he is in the 93rd percentile for pass completion amongst central defenders:
Credit: FBRef
He prefers accurate short and medium passes as opposed to line-splitting through-balls, but his passes are very rarely intercepted or mis-placed, which should give us a real boost when playing out against high-pressing teams.
The Verdict
One of the main things to note about Leny Yoro is his age and his potential to improve.
At 18, he was a key part of a team that made it into the Champion’s league last year, and had some of the best statistics amongst defenders.
Yoro has composure, maturity and football intelligence beyond his years, and will only continue to get better at United. His ceiling is very, very high and if we can ease him into the team, work on his deficiencies and get it to click with Lisandro Martinez, we could be looking at a truly world-class defensive partnership for years to come.
This was an excellent signing and a big statement of intent from a Manchester united executive team that seem to be making all the right moves.