Let's Talk About Leny Yoro
Analysing Leny Yoro, exploring Manchester United as a destination for young talent, and projecting Yoro's potential.
Manchester United have just signed an 18 year old kid from France for £52 million. That kid’s name is Leny Yoro and there’s lots to talk about.
France haven’t been short of brilliant central defending talents – Saliba, Konate, Fofana…you get the point. There’s a manufacturing line that is incredibly reliable from that part of the world and on the surface it appears as if Yoro is the latest model in that line of exports.
In this piece, I’ll talk about
• Leny Yoro – the player profile
• Manchester United as a destination for young talent (including Leny Yoro)
• How United can get the best out of him
As always, this will never be as comprehensive as I’d like it to be. I love depth, I think I’m always missing something, I’m also aware that by thinking both of those things I’ll never share anything. So, in the name of writing one focused football thing a week, here we go.
Name: Leny Yoro.
Nationality: French.
Height: 6’3.
Transfer: Lille → Manchester United.
Yoro played under Fonseca for LOSC Lille last season. The majority of their success was founded upon a strong defensive foundation, with Leny Yoro playing primarily at the right side of central defence. In their system, Lille (and thus Yoro) played a high line defensively.
Yoro’s height is an obvious talking point and we should mention it. Although skinny in frame, the fact he is a graduate of Ligue 1 bodes well for him for me. Ligue 1 talents map to English football more readily than a number of other leagues for me and for Yoro to be a talent at 18 years old who has survived a lengthy campaign in France is only a green flag.
Yoro’s long legs immediately jump out as a factor in his game. In an Inspector Gadget like way, he’s often able to pluck the ball out of the air, or from the control of the opposition attackers from seemingly impossible scenarios.
In circles of discussion online this sort of telescopic long-leggedness has been attributed to the likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Camavinga. I think these are fair and valid comparisons.
Defensively, I’ll be more critical in this piece than others have tended to be because I like to be picky, provide depth and test theories. Secondly, it’s because there’s lots of analysis that simply looks like a list of a player’s strengths or theoretical strengths. With all of that in mind, Yoro is still 18. These slights in his game aren’t irredeemable by any stretch of the imagination.
Whether this is the result of systematic instruction, or whether its an individual temprament of Yoro’s, he displays a naturally aggressive and front-footed defending style. He is very willing to play touch tight and given the trend of high possession English side's deploying a high line system, Yoro’s profile suits the ideals of what (I assume) Manchester United are moving towards. Yoro’s front-footedness does require caution however – in pushing up to press the opposition attackers as they receive the ball deeper, space can open up in the space in behind Yoro, disrupting the last line.
Yoro’s temperament doesn’t remain static however. He’s not an always-aggressive player although he certainly leans that way. In a lower defensive shape, he has shown some signs of being able to play a little more reserved. I’ve seen van Dijk comparison online – I don’t necessarily agree with these, and in temperament these don’t make sense either, given van Dijk is someone generally composed and back-footed.
When Yoro does go touch tight, if the opposition attacker can get their contact with Yoro side on, rather than having Yoro on their back, then by leveraging their arm they can distance themselves moving sideways, and backwards, away from Yoro without his long legs being able to reach the ball. Horizontal runs from opposition attackers prior to receiving the ball on Yoro’s side therefore becomes something to explore. A side-on barge can get shift Yoro’s balance bettering him particularly from low centre of gravity, stockier, strong players. Think someone like Sterling or Aguero perhaps. You’d be using Yoro’s pace/aggression/frame/balance/momentum against him with such physical contact.
Yoro’s acceleration is alright. His top speed looks ridiculous however. Paired with this strong, innate defensive intensity when the opponent have a transition attack of their own – Yoro is a top recovery defender. His long legs help him in this regard too as Yoro is often seen pickpocketing the ball from behind as he slides.
The fact Yoro’s acceleration isn’t the best requires a keeper to trust he eventually gets back but perhaps this influences a keeper to step out too early. Opponents once past Yoro would be sensible shooting early knowing he’s more than able to then catch up. United’s keeper would in these situations, therefore, be better placed holding their position.
Once Yoro gets in front of his man, it’s fairly impossible to beat him. When both players are facing towards and the ball is in front of both, I’d almost always favour Yoro in such situation. One con to Yoro’s wide defending game is, when he does get isolated 1v1 with the opponent’s winger wide, it is usually fairly easy for the winger to get a cross off. There is a separation and distance between winger and Yoro that he doesn’t always close down.
Given his height and frame, Yoro is susceptible to being caught tall/upright with players being able to beat him via cutbacks/quick changes of direction to the inside of his body – infield. This is more evident on the flank. His long legs allow him to poke the ball when the opponent has passed him on the inside though so it’s not always a foregone conclusion. In general Yoro goes to ground readily. He does this too when he is off-balance and uses it to effect to ‘save himself’ in those awkward situations. It looks awkward but in reality it is just how he functionally uses his frame. In function, it tends to work. When he does go to ground, Yoro scoops the ball in his sliding action and is able to stand in the same motion.
Yoro in his aforementioned front-footedness bites on feints particularly inside and takes a moment to reset. Yoro wants to show his opponent down the channel/flank, in a similar way van Dijk dares his opponents too, but by squaring him up and playing on his readiness to bite on feints, players may get joy trying to cut inside.
In possession, Yoro is interesting. The stylistic comparison I want to make is that he looks a bit Busquets-ish which feels weird, but there’s a coolness, an upright deceptive posture, and a game that is predicated on feints, and both-footed ball manipulation that keeps the ball on far side (as far away as possible from opponents). His height works to his advantage in creating that separation. He’s composed under pressure.
I feel like he defends better 1v1 from LCB rather than RCB. I want to watch more at a greater sample size to be sure of this, but in a van Dijk ish way perhaps the manner in which he turns and responds to changes in direction on the right feels more clumsy than on the left? There’s also the potential he offers up more perceived space inside when he defends at RCB rather than LCB. Again this paragraph is off of a hunch and a working theory. I might be wrong, but its something I’ll be watching out for.
I think its always important to talk about the human aspects of anything in any domain, and football isn’t any different.
Yoro’s front-footed nature, his gangly aesthetics, his readiness to go to ground in a sliding fashion – although they tend to work for him, are all actions conducive to looking visibly embarrassing if they were to go wrong. When players play bad due to inaction, being invisible – they often go unnoticed in the court of public opinion. My worry here is, Yoro’s style alongside his price tag, alongside the fact he plays for Manchester United at the price tag he boasts, that he could potentially end up the subject of ridicule – fail comps, memes, and other jobless things. We’ve seen the like with Jadon Sancho for example.
Yoro needs protection, although the mental maturity and fortitude to play as often as he did as a teenager in Ligue 1 is commendable and dispels some of those worries. One thing I’ll say is United need someone to share the minutes and more importantly share the responsibility with Yoro. Keep Maguire. The Evans extension was smart too.
With young talent, you play them with development in mind forgiving their mistakes (a la Wenger) or you share/slow the process. United isn’t conducive to being forgiving. It’s negligent not to treat Yoro’s development with care as good as he can be. At his age, in a physical league, with a unique frame – injury prevention needs to be a concept at the forefront of said protection too.
And please, please sign good midfielders in front of him.
Look, this isn’t a perfect profiling of Yoro. I’m never satisfied with my depth of work but there’s things in here that I’ve not seen mentioned and I hope that is of value.
Yoro’s a brilliant player for his age at present. He should be integrated more gradually than some should hope but he possesses raw tools, that if nurtured correctly could place him as one of the world’s best defenders in seasons to come.
I’m sure Real Madrid will have a watchful eye over him as that process develops, ha.
– Umir.
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Enjoyed reading this, Umir