Better than Todibo… 18-year-old Man Utd target the best centre-half in Europe’s top five leagues at key quality
Manchester United are known suitors of 18-year-old Leny Yoro, and now he’s been shown to be a continent-leading star in one area.
The defensive situation at Manchester United is in dire need of fixing and it’s possible 18-year-old Leny Yoro could be the solution to all Erik ten Hag‘s ailments.
With an ageing centre-half department which sees Jonny Evans (35), Raphael Varane (30), Harry Maguire (30) and Victor Lindelof (29) all in there leaving Lisandro Martinez the centre-back 25 or younger.
Therefore an injection of youth is much needed, and that could come in the form of the talented Frenchman from Lille. United are said to have been in contact for Yoro who is seen as the new Varane which is not a bad comparison to have.
The asking price for Yoro is steep at £43m – although this is modest in comparison with Everton’s £100m asking price for Jarrad Branthwaite – but the feeling is he’d absolutely make that fee look a bargain.
Yoro has already been proving his value in his maiden season as a starter at a senior level, with no game more impressive than his 7.3/10 rating while defending Kylian Mbappe and currently leads Europe’s top five in a key defensive stat.
United target Leny Yoro leads Europe in key statistic
According to a dataset by Data Foot, the 18-year-old is better than any other centre-half in Europe’s top five leagues in defensive duels.
He has won a whopping 80.4% of his duels which really is unheard of for someone so young and signifies why United are so interested.
Yoro sits top, ahead of Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock in second and United target Jean-Clair Todibo in third.
This stat just further emphasises that Yoro is destined for the stars and a player that whoever is United’s new director of football must be making a move for.
Would Yoro be a good signing for United?
Well – he is clearly a player brimming with talent and the fact the likes of PSG and Chelsea are also interested says a lot about how good he is.
While it is difficult to envision an 18-year-old immediately starting for United, he does seem to be an excellent talent which gives him every chance of doing so.
He significantly lowers the squad’s average age as he’d be replacing someone at least 12 years older than him and could be an excellent addition to the young spine Ten Hag is building at the club – along with Kobbie Mainoo and Rasmus Hojlund.
He’s a signing who will excite fans given his talents and the fact he’s a player at the beginning of his career and we’d be able to watch him grow – as opposed to watching the other defenders come down the other side of their peak.
