Julius OkorieSometimes it is not how far but how well. Some other times in the round leather game, it is not about how old but about how talented.
France teenager, Leny Yoro, has barely played 60 games as a professional footballer but he is already in the middle as two biggest clubs in the world, La Liga giants, Real Madrid, who only few days ago unveiled Kylian Mbappe, had admired him for long, and Manchester United battle to have 18 year old Yoro in their camp.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe question would be what is special about Yoro that has attracted such attention from two heavy weight clubs?
Jocelyn Gourvennec, the Lille manager, who gave Yoro his professional debut in the 2021/22 season spoke of how Yoro at 16 showed qualities that cannot be ignored.
Lille’s situation was relatively desperate. The reigning Ligue 1 champions at the time only had an 18-player squad to compete across the league and Champions League – so Yoro was fast-tracked into first-team training.
“I used players older than Leny in the beginning during the first three or four months, afterwards the president told me to look at a younger player, who was only 16,” Gourvennec told Sky Sports.
“We took him only in training for the beginning and it was surprising – because he was very tidy and calm.”
Yoro did not just impress Lille’s coaching staff, but his new first-team colleagues too. Gourvennec called on the opinions of Jose Fonte, Renato Sanches and Burak Yilmaz on their new academy product.
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“It’s important to ask the experienced players what they are thinking, all of them were definitely convinced by him,” Gourvennec adds.
“They said: ‘he’s only 16, it’s difficult to play every game now. But you know in one or two years he will be an important player.’”
When he made his professional debut in a 3-1 win over Nice in May 2022, Yoro became Lille’s second-youngest player and their youngest debutant since Eden Hazard.
Yoro, who is Ivorian descent through his father, started playing football at Alfortville where he stayed one season before moving with his family in the Lille area. He then pursued his football learning in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, where he grew up, and finally joined Lille’s youth system in 2017.
For former Arsenal legend and former France international, Thierry Henry, who is coach of France Under-21s, Yoro is exemplary and started off on a good note. “He is having an exemplary start to his career” said Henry who part of the Arsenal’s invisibles of 2003/04 season under Arsene Wenger.
Former Lille manager Paulo Fonseca on his part predicts that Yoro will be the defender to beat in France and Europe. “He will be one of the best central defenders in France and probably Europe” he submitted.
Statistically only five players completed more passes than Yoro playing as a right centre-back in Fonseca’s back four system at Lille though the majority of these passes were in his own half and he barely played through the lines.
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His ball retention rate of 92%, how likely he is to keep the ball was bettered by only three Ligue 1 defenders last season.
And then there is his 6ft 2in frame, which helps him win more aerial duels than most, while also using his long legs to generate speed.
After all said and done however the battle for Yoro appears to be coming to close and the teenage French defender is on his way to Old Trafford to complete a move to United and the Premier League after a £52m fee was agreed. Manchester United begin their new season against Fulham on August 16.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
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