LENY YORO
Manchester United, 2024-
Real Madrid, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain were all reportedly keen to sign Lille defender Leny Yoro, but it was Manchester United who won the race for his signature. That list of clubs alone will tell you that he is a player with much potential. At the age of 18, he has already played 60 first-team games for the French club, including nine in the Europa Conference League. In fact, he played more outfield minutes for Lille in the 2023/24 league season than anyone, and was also selected for the Ligue 1 team of the year.
Born in a Paris suburb in 2005, Yoro made his first-team debut for Lille when he was just 16 years, six months and one day old. As a regular in the 2023/24 campaign, he helped the club finish fourth in Ligue 1, qualifying for the Champions League third qualifying round. His form proved enough for Thierry Henry to name him in France’s preliminary squad for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Here, our UEFA-licensed coaches have analysed Yoro’s game, including his position and technical capabilities…
Technical analysis
A right-footed central defender, Yoro defends the central spaces well, whether aggressively or in more controlled fashion. He has frequently played the role of covering centre-back, or last defender. This helps to explain why the number of actions attributed to him – at the time of writing – are lesser than those of his teammates and other centre-backs.
He wasn’t the most frequent dueller in Lille’s 2023/24 campaign, but he did have the best success rate. As he engages with an attacker, he has been effective at stopping his direct opponent from turning. His controlled approach often allows him to pinch or prod at the ball, making it hard for the attacker to maintain possession. Even if he doesn’t cleanly win the ball back, he typically does enough to force mistakes, putting off his opponent and helping midfield teammates to regain possession as they work back (below).
It is rare to see Yoro rolled when defending his opponent from behind. As such, he hasn’t usually been exposed when defending the spaces just ahead of the back line. He could, however, work on the detail of which shoulder to defend on. Sometimes he has applied pressure on the wrong side, allowing his direct opponent to pass the other way – when he commits from the outside, the attacker can pass and combine back towards the centre. A penetrative runner from midfield can then be an issue, exploiting the space between Yoro and his centre-back partner. Defending more from the inside shoulder would help him to avoid this issue.
When defending against dropping attackers, he has looked to intercept more than duel, although still not with any great frequency. More notable has been his covering for teammates, especially his centre-back partner (below). Due to his age and lack of experience, he is still developing the physicality and authority in his position that will surely see him become the first dueller more often.
He certainly has the technical capability to defend first contacts more frequently, and this will likely happen with more first-team exposure. At 6ft 3ins, his stature will also help him compete aerially, and as he bulks out he should have the frame to compete with big, imposing centre-forwards. In 2023/24, Yoro already had the best aerial-duel success rate (67.86 per cent) at Lille, and the fifth-best in Ligue 1.
With the ball, he has tended to play relatively simple and consistent passes, perhaps not yet being comfortable or particularly willing to break lines and expose gaps in the opposition’s block. His pass accuracy has therefore been quite high (94.2 per cent in 2023/24), with the majority of these passes inside his own half and at a modest tempo. He recorded the second-most passes for Lille in the 2023/24 Ligue 1 season, but not in a particularly progressive manner (below).
Yoro can bring the ball out from the back when needed, but again has not been particularly progressive in this area. His style has been to take the space afforded to him, rather than commit to breaking a line as, for example, John Stones would do. His ability to bait and lure individual opponents has also yet to be seen consistently. Again due to his age, coupled with the position he plays, it is likely that he will be more progressive and purposeful with his passing in future.
Back-four defending
Across the 2023/24 season, Yoro operated as a right-sided centre-back in a back four, with Lille usually playing either a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3. He was paired with Alexsandro in central defence, with Ismaily, Tiago Santos, Bafodé Diakité and Gabriel Gudmundsson all used in the full-back roles. Yoro’s wide covering proved useful when Lille’s right-back – Santos or Diakité – jumped out to press alongside the double pivot. Here, Yoro showcased his flexibility in protecting channel balls, tracking runners and covering underneath the engaging full-backs (below).
Yoro also showed his timing and understanding to intercept passes back inside, or attempted reversed or disguised passes from wide. Here, he has also covered inside and protected underneath the central midfielders, often using them to double up on the receiving forward when the opposition plays into them. In defending these central spaces, he has shown ability to intercept, read and predict the play.
When working alongside his central-defensive partner, Alexsandro, he has often covered and protected in behind first. Indeed, Alexsandro contested the 13th-most duels in Ligue 1 in 2023/24. Yoro has also covered and supported defensive midfielder Benjamin André, who has been another key first-contact dueller and tackler for Lille. When Alexsandro provided wide defensive support on the Lille left, Yoro worked around André to cover and protect the inside left channel, as well as the penalty area for any resultant crosses, cut-backs or combinations back inside.
Build-up
During Lille’s build-up, Yoro has combined with his centre-back partner and the pivots just ahead (below). From the preferred 4-2-3-1, he played simple passes with the pivots – André, Nabil Bentaleb or Angel Gomes – aiming to draw the opposing midfield out of line. However, he rarely looked for first-time penetrative passes into the number 10 and central-forward pairing. This is something that would elevate his game significantly.
Yoro has also used his full-backs as they initially started deeper, here combining with the pivots before working the ball into the wingers to attack 1v1. The full-backs would then join in the advancing attack, with Yoro widening to support underneath. His widening movement would also allow the pivots to drop into the back line if needed.
His positioning in these moments also acted as the main barrier to stopping opposing counter-attacks, should Lille’s build phase break down. Yoro’s wider covering as his full-backs recovered has shown his ability to protect and delay. His central protection around and alongside Alexsandro has also delayed attacks, forcing play into traffic, where teammates are then able to duel.
Yoro is certainly a talent to keep an eye on. His progress so far has been impressive, and yet the exciting thing for Manchester United and France is that he still has plenty of room to improve.
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