Leny Yoro - the 'Mbappe of defenders’ able to return Man Utd to the Champions League

18 Jul 2024 20:00 BST
4 min read

Kylian Mbappe, Leny Yoro, 2024 — © IMAGO

With Manchester United aiming to reshape themselves as shrewd investors in the market, there are few better options than Leny Yoro.

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He embodies all the traits the club needs: a youthful presence who would undoubtedly strengthen the backline. As Raphael Varane departs and Harry Maguire's future in doubt, Yoro, who has signed for United for €70 million, would symbolise a positive step in Ineos’ commitment to the future.

Born in a Paris suburb in 2005, Yoro's football journey began in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, a town not far from Lille. Naturally, the Ligue 1 club’s youth academy were quick to scout the teenager and signed him.

A day after his 16th birthday, Yoro made his Ligue 1 debut in the penultimate game of the 2021/22 season, a 3-1 victory over Nice, but it wasn’t until the second half of the 2022/23 season that he started to stand out. He made 766 minutes that time, performing as a bit-part player but slowly becoming a key player under head coach Paulo Fonseca, on the right side of defence as part of a 4-3-2-1 system.

© IMAGO - Leny Yoro helped Lille finish fourth last season

Despite being the tender age of 18, Yoro has made 60 first-team appearances for Lille and last season, he made the most minutes than any other player in the side, landing a spot in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year and France's preliminary squad for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games along the way.

He is deployed as the final man, allowing someone like Lisandro Martinez to position himself further upfield and make those line-breaking passes.

Leny Yoro - a star in the making

Compared

VS

2023/2024

Season Statistics

2023/2024

2	Key Passes	4
3690	Minutes Played	1929
50	Interceptions	18
46	Tackles	21

Yoro had the highest success rate in duels last campaign - he is an intelligent defender, rarely tricked by feints and knowing when to dive a foot in or wait. He effectively prevents attackers from turning, often disrupting their possession even without winning the ball cleanly. He has a calm demeanour when defending and it’s this organised approach that means he does not get caught out by runners in behind.

Standing at 6ft 3ins, Yoro has the height to ensure that the Man Utd backline is not overrun with high balls into the box, with Martinez having an extremely low volume of aerial duals won. Yoro boasts the best success rate for headers at Lille (67.86%) and the fifth-best overall in Ligue 1.

© IMAGO - Erik ten Hag has a habit of bringing youngsters through

He is in no way a ball-playing centre-back: he plays sharp, low passes to the double pivot or the wing-backs, seldom engaging the front line with the ball. With Martinez, this won’t be a problem as the Argentine is more than capable of breaking the lines, but it’s an area of Yoro’s game that must be worked on with Erik ten Hag at Carrington.

Yoro has been billed as the Kylian Mbappe of centre-backs, such is his ability at this age. It would take something special for that to manifest, as well as game-time.

With each passing minute on the pitch, he will grow more, and if Man Utd put him along with Martinez as their starting central defenders, over the supposedly incoming De Ligt, Man Utd will have a superstar in their midst in no time.

Read more about: Premier League, Man Utd, Leny Yoro, Lisandro Martínez