Leny Yoro’s first and last appearances for Lille were against Nice. His debut, as a 16-year-old, came in the presence of Sir Dave Brailsford.
Brailsford was at the Allianz Riviera Stadium in his role as the Ineos sporting director of Ineos-owned Nice. He was flanked by Josh Thompson, the group’s sports project manager already dubbed Brailsford’s “bag man” by some at Manchester United.
Where Brailsford goes, Thompson usually follows. He wandered through the mixed zone with Brailsford and Sir Jim Ratcliffe after the FA Cup final and appeared to advise Ratcliffe on an exit strategy that avoided the press.
Thompson closely assists Brailsford and fellow United football board member Jean-Claude Blanc to drive the performance levels. Yoro has gone up a few levels since Brailsford first clapped eyes on him.
The teenager came on in the 78th minute with Lille 2-1 up in May 2022 and they clinched a 3-1 victory. Three of Yoro’s 68 appearances for Lille came against Nice.
United sporting director Dan Ashworth championed the development of a signing from Lille at Brighton six years ago. He joined two months before Ashworth’s appointment but it was under the Ashworth-Graham Potter axis he emerged into one of the Premier League’s most dominant midfielders. Yves Bissouma restored Tottenham’s backbone last season.
Ratcliffe said earlier this year United would opt for a grassroots approach in the transfer market and Yoro is very green. Ratcliffe last month lamented the disadvantages of multi-club ownership in the transfer market as the Nice centre back Jean-Clair Todibo had been eyed by United but is now headed for West Ham.
Yoro, six years the 24-year-old Todibo’s junior and without any international recognition, is a long-term addition at a club in need of significant short-term gains. Yoro’s final fee could trump Lisandro Martinez’s yet United lack longevity at centre half, where three of the defenders are in their 30s.
Last season was, in all probability, Victor Lindelof’s last with United and next season could be the curtain call for Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans. Yoro will be afforded a season of adaptation, as unforgiving as his position is.
Eight league games in an untried Europa League format should help him find his feet. Maguire and Evans are sound professionals who have been around the block and will offer expert guidance. It is a pity for Yoro that Raphael Varane, another teenage centre half at a northern French club United coveted 13 years ago, came to the end of the road at the club.
Following Zinedine Zidane’s intervention in 2011, Sir Alex Ferguson turned to Phil Jones, also 19. Jones is proof a raw defender can make a fearless start at United, even eliciting a barely credulous comparison with Duncan Edwards from Sir Bobby Charlton.
It helped that Jones was a homebird from Blackburn and accustomed to the Premier League. He was emboldened by United’s gung-ho approach to the 2011-12 season as they plundered 21 goals in their first six games, which placed him mostly out of harm’s way.
Yoro’s age will not protect him from scrutiny but he need only look to his left at Martinez, written off by Jamie Carragher (and others) after two appearances. Despite an injury-plagued year, Martinez has been the most successful signing of the Erik ten Hag era.
Newly-signed centre backs at United used to endure baptisms of fire until Eric Bailly, usually the fire starter rather than firefighter, eased some of the heat. He was the man of the match in his first two appearances in 2016, Maguire had a steady start three years later and ditto Varane in 2021. Lindelof was unsteady in his first season and Martinez’s mare lasted two games before he helped neutralise a daunting Liverpool attack at Old Trafford.
Bailly was 22 when he was unveiled, Lindelof 23, Maguire 26 and Varane 28. Lindelof was culpable for both goals in newly-promoted Huddersfield’s win over United in October 2017 and left the John Smith’s Stadium with two hoodies pulled up, skulking out like a criminal leaving court.
