Why Varane clone Leny Yoro has become the transfer market’s hottest property

Robin Bairner

• 6 Jun 2024 12:03 BST
• 11 min read

Leny Yoro is the most coveted young defender in world football heading into the transfer window, with Real Madrid, Manchester United and PSG just some of the clubs seeking to sign the Lille star.

Aged 18, he already has a full year of first-team experience under his belt, playing for a Lille side both towards the top of Ligue 1 but also one that ventured deep in the UEFA Conference League before being eliminated by Aston Villa.

Now it has been reported by Marca that Man Utd have launched a €60 million bid for the France U21 international – well above his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €18.8m.

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But what is it exactly about Yoro that has attracted so many leading teams towards him this summer and just how good can he become?

Yoro’s performance during the 2023/24 season was formidable. He rated comfortably among Ligue 1’s best centre-backs in terms of his all-round performance, according to data analytics experts SciSports.

Somewhat surprisingly, he did not particularly excel in any of SciSports’ defensive categories, yet he was accomplished enough in each discipline to suggest that development will come in the years ahead.

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Yoro vs Ligue 1 centre-backs: Overall performance 2023/24

He did show a weakness when it came to recovering possession, particularly in terms of tackling. This is an area where any buying club might want to work on.

Nevertheless, the sky is the limit for Yoro if he can reach his potential. According to SciSports, there is no defender under the age of 20 who has a higher ceiling while only Valencia’s Cristhian Mosquera is currently rated higher on the SciSkill index, which is calculated using hundreds of in-game data points.

Yoro's ceiling is calculated at 139.5 - way ahead of the current best centre-backs, who are reckoned to be Alessandro Bastoni of Inter (128.4) and William Saliba at Arsenal (128.2).

A mentality monster

“He’s had an exemplary start to his career,” France U21 boss Thierry Henry commented. “To establish himself in Lille as he is doing… There’s going to be some mistakes and that’s completely normal, sometimes you get slapped. And he still goes on to play good games.

“After, there are always things to refine, but that’s completely normal.”

Henry’s assistant has also praised Yoro’s mentality.

Speaking collectively about the youngest player in the France U21 squad, Warren Zaire-Emery, Guillaume Restes, Mathys Tel and Yoro in October, Gerald Baticle said: “Their common point is their desire to improve. They have wisdom in their play, in their behaviour, their attitudes, their thinking. They are not only obsessed with the objective, they are aware of the path to take and how to give themselves the means to build it.

“When things go well, Leny doesn't burst into flames and he doesn't drown when things go badly. He, like the three other players we talked about, are boys who know how to manage their emotions.”

Indeed, Yoro is being compared closely to Raphael Varane, who came through the academy of Lens, just a few miles up the road from Lille.

“When I saw Leny Yoro, he was a close of Varane,” his youth coach Olivier Silvestri said. “He’s got that same attitude, the same investment, the same maturity at the same age, same size, same body type.”

Now with the big clubs circling, it may not be long before Yoro takes the next big step in his career. The question is: where will it be?