Replacing a 4-time Champions League winner in Raphael Varane is no easy feat. Especially when your team has been defensively horrid throughout the season with a Goal Differential of minus 1 at the end of the Premier League season. But Manchester United have shocked the world, going toe-to-toe with Real Madrid to secure the signature of Leny Yoro, who not only is French like Varane, looks a bit like Varane, but also plays like Varane!
The 18-year-old wonderkid, Leny Yoro, has finally made the move to the Manchester club and is currently undergoing his medicals. And every Red Devils fan is excited about the signing of the Lille defender. Standing at 6’3″, Leny Yoro was featured in the top ten of NXGN’s 50 Best Wonderkids list in 2024.
After a long time, it feels like Manchester United has made a signing that makes the most sense for the club. Instead of going for washed-up players as they have in the recent past, they’ve made a move that guarantees them silverware in the future and the main reason for that is Leny Yoro’s capability to fill in the holes present in the Manchester defence.
Last season Manchester United were missing Lisandro Martinez at the heart of their defence for a major part of the season. And their performances were enough to tell one how much they missed him. But next season, the backline at Man United will be manned by a Copa America winner who conceded only a single goal whole tournament and the new signing Leny Yoro. A crazy fact about Yoro is that he ranks 3rd in the world for the most minutes played by a teenager at a record 2,672 minutes played for the French club, Lille.
The Leny-Licha partnership will be perfect at the back
Leny Yoro compliments Lisandro Martinez perfectly. In them, United have 2 solid ball-playing centre-backs which is an important component in the Ten Hag system. Lisandro Martinez is only second best to William Saliba in the Prem for cutting through opponent pressure. While Leny Yoro is not quite adept in this aspect, he is perfect to provide cover in a situation where Licha’s aggressive tackles and interceptions fail. His tall frame makes him the favourite in most Aerial duels, while his long limbs mean that he often catches attackers off-guard with tackles and recoveries. Licha is a monster at supplying long balls at the back, as was evident from his time at Ajax, while Yoro is tidy in possession as well, having a pass completion rate of over 92%. In 1v1 situations Leny Yoro, thanks to his huge frame is quite imposing to the opponents and it’s hard work for attackers to dribble past him.
However, the only drawback for both these players will be when the opponent teams are in transition with a lot of space in front of them. Yoro depends more on his positioning in such situations and it’s not easy for a teenager to not make mistakes in certain situations. But that is also the best part about the Leny Yoro transfer. The fact that the French defender is just 18 gives him all the more time to develop into one of the best CBs in not just the Premier League but the entire world. He already has all the makings to become one.
When they say, “Your attacker wins you matches, while your defenders win you tournaments”, they are referring to defenders like Yoro.
