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There are still four weeks until the transfer window opens, but Ruben Amorim already has a shiny new signing to drop into his Manchester United team. French defender Leny Yoro made his debut on Wednesday night in the final 35 minutes of the Premier League match against Arsenal, and while United were beaten for the first time under Amorim, there were exciting signs in the cameo of their teenage prodigy.
Signed in the summer, Yoro sustained a foot injury in pre-season which required surgery and so is only now beginning his United career. A player bought by Erik ten Hag to play in a back four made his bow on the right side of Amorim’s back three, and it is a position that suits his style.
That much was illustrated by his most impactful moment at the Emirates, facing up to a speeding Leandro Trossard, isolated one-on-one. The backtracking defender used his body shape to force Trossard onto his left side before striding across the area to snap into a perfectly timed tackle. Later Trossard tried to twist Yoro in the box before shooting from 12 yards, but the defender again kept his head and blocked the strike. No one on either side made more than Yoro’s three tackles on the night, despite the 19-year-old being a 58th-minute substitute.
In France, Yoro has already been compared to World Cup-winning defender Raphael Varane, whom he effectively replaced at Old Trafford this summer. Yet at the Emirates there was something reminiscent of another former United player, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, whose tackling stats consistently show him to be one of the best one-on-one defenders in the world. On top of his defensive abilities, Yoro also possesses a Carrick-ish grace and composure on the ball, and the right-sided spot in Amorim’s three-man defence will afford him the chance to step out with the ball and initiate attacking moves.
There has been a clamour around Yoro for a couple of years, ever since he first broke into Lille’s senior team aged 16. It is rare for someone so young to establish themselves at a major club, and even rarer at centre-back, a position that demands such physical and mental maturity. But Yoro was quickly marked out as someone different, someone special.
“What he’s doing is extraordinary,” said Thierry Henry last November, having managed Yoro in France Under-21s.
His manager at Lille, Paulo Fonseca, went further, saying: “It’s not normal to have an 18-year-old player like Leny with this maturity and the technical qualities he has. For me, he will be one of the best central defenders in France and in Europe. He is very ambitious but very disciplined. He’s very focused, very concentrated, he wants to learn every day and I have no doubt in modern football he will be one of the best central defenders in the world.”
That is a bold statement but it is also reflected in how highly Manchester United’s hierarchy think of him. Upon completing the £52m transfer, sporting director Dan Ashworth described Yoro as “one of the most exciting young defenders in world football”, and there is hope at Old Trafford that he can become the next great Manchester United centre-half.
Yoro is still developing, and his academy manager at Lille warned last season that for all his undoubted talent he still needs to improve, particularly in aerial duels. But Amorim has a history of trusting and developing young players: on arrival at cash-strapped Sporting he was forced to promote a number of academy products who later formed the basis of his title-winning teams in Portugal.
Amorim has started with Matthijs De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui in defence in each of his three matches so far but, for reasons of injury, suspension and tactical rotation, the third defender has changed with each game. Jonny Evans faced Ipswich, Lisandro Martinez played against Everton, and Harry Maguire started at Arsenal.
But perhaps the most natural trio is still yet to combine. The athleticism and intelligence of Yoro alongside the physical presence of De Ligt and the tenacity of the left-sided Martinez has the ring of a well-balanced back line, one that can build play from deep, hold a high line and compete at set pieces – an area that might need attention after Arsenal’s masterclass this week.
Amorim may need to dip into the transfer market in January, particularly if he wants to find a solution at left wingback, where Luke Shaw has sustained yet another injury and Tyrell Malacia is still recovering his sharpness after almost two years out. But centre-back is one position where United have ample options for his back-three system. And in Yoro, Amorim has the new signing Ten Hag never had.
