Teenage sensation Leny Yoro is holding out for a dream transfer to Real Madrid despite an offer from Manchester United.
The 18-year-old centre-back broke into Lille’s first-team during the 2022/23 season and went on to make 44 appearances for the Ligue 1 outfit last term, alerting a host of top European clubs to his prodigious talents.
Real Madrid are avid admirers of Yoro, as are United – but only the latter have lodged an official bid with Lille to sign the youngster this summer.
While United remain dogged in their pursuit of Yoro and have had a €63 million (£53m) bid accepted by Lille, French outlet L’Equipe maintains that Real Madrid remain the defender’s preferred destination.
A different report from The Athletic delves deeper into the current state of play regarding Yoro and details that several of the Frenchman’s suitors, including Liverpool, have backed off after being told the player only wants Real Madrid.
Manchester United, however, have not given up hope they can persuade Yoro to change course and are likely to persist in trying to do so all the while that he is still a Lille player.
Lille president Olivier Letang has already made it clear that Yoro will be sold this summer. The centre-half has just one year left to run on his current contract and it’s believed Real Madrid will attempt to play the long game and snare him for free if Lille do not lower their demands.
While Yoro seemingly only has eyes for Real Madrid, he did take to social media earlier this summer to call out a fake account which had bluntly ruled out a transfer to Old Trafford.
Manchester United completed a deal for Bologna striker Joshua Zirkzee over the weekend and signing a central defender is now a priority for the club’s top brass. As well as pursuing a deal for Yoro, the Red Devils are also in talks with Bayern Munich over a deal for Matthijs de Ligt with the expectation being that United would sign either him or Yoro, rather than both players.
