Leny Yoro image 15

Leny Yoro France flag

2025-26 Performances

View full 2025-26 profile

5.4 Season Average Rating
Appearances
32
Clean sheets
3
Goals
0
Assists
0
Yellow cards
1
Marwood said:
Yep maybe.

And we can see how that's going even with a CM pairing worth over £200 million.

CB, CM and the number 9. You need players in or around their prime.

Unless they're truly special young players.

At least one of Yoro or Heaven needs to go on loan. We can't carry two young CB's.
Click to expand...
Chelsea seem happy enough, preparing for the future well.

They don't seem to want to change their approach on the age of players.
 
Interesting to note that he played his best games when MDL or Maguire were next to him.
He's young, he needs a leader next to him and he hasn't got one right now.
 
Hammondo said:
Chelsea seem happy enough, preparing for the future well.

They don't seem to want to change their approach on the age of players.
Click to expand...

I can't imagine many using Cheslea as the standard of how to run a football club.
 
So so passive. Needs to add aggression to his game.
 
Marwood said:
We can't wait at United. There's too much pressure.

I fact no team has that many players under 22.

There isn't time to wait for Dorgu, Yoro, Heaven, Mainoo, Sesko, maybe Lacey, to all hit their prime.

Yoro actually did brilliantly last season. He exceeded expectations. But a reality was bound to hit. He's just too young to be relied on. Same will happen with Heaven.
Click to expand...
I agree that we can’t wait. On the other hand I personally never said a young player is too shite or that a young player at another team would fix our problems. Yoro and Heaven will keep on making mistakes because they are still learning.
Same will happen with Sesko, same with Mainoo and same with any of the midfielders we’ll buy that’s under 23
 
Hammondo said:
Yoro was ball watching.
Click to expand...

He has to. he’s compensating for two players. The one out of position and the one that was supposed to track Welbeck’s run. He has to hold the space in the middle - which he did - and he evidently doesn’t close fast enough because of it, but that’s less of an issue if Ugarte tracks Welbeck’s run
 
He's had a bit of 2nd season syndrome. Confidence has took a knock and he's never really recovered
 
Marwood said:
I can't imagine many using Cheslea as the standard of how to run a football club.
Click to expand...
Well I think they have turned it around. I think they are starting to show some good stuff.
 
Our so called senior defensive midfielders are all too often hanging these kids out to dry, and it's not helping anyone. Last time round it was Heaven. You have a young defender in two minds because someone has let a runner run off them, and then it's too late to react
 
Hammondo said:
Well I think they have turned it around. I think they are starting to show some good stuff.
Click to expand...

They've just sacked their manager and are below us in the league.

Either way it's mad to justify having young CB's just because Chelsea do. There is zero logic in that.
 
Hones
Glorio said:
Our so called senior defensive midfielders are all too often hanging these kids out to dry, and it's not helping anyone. Last time round it was Heaven. You have a young defender in two minds because someone has let a runner run off them, and then it's too late to react
Click to expand...
This, and we've not had a consistent defensive lineup in awhile.
 
Marwood said:
They've just sacked their manager and are below us in the league.

Either way it's mad to justify having young CB's just because Chelsea do. There is zero logic in that.
Click to expand...
Yea but the squad they have is good. Got a process.

We can't just buy a squad and win.
 
He needs to hit the gym hard and work on his pace, power and explosiveness. But, more importantly, he needs to improve his attitude and play with far more intensity and urgency when off the ball and in duels. He has far too much of Lindelöf about him, which is concerning.
 
He and Licha must be one of the least aerially competitive partnerships we have ever put out. For a big lad he is extremely weak in the air, really needs to develop that for the PL.
 
Looking at Leny play, I'd kill for a big no nonsense centre half like Dan Ballard in the team right now!

Just an old school defender who wants to block crosses and shots and isn't afraid to get his kit dirty.

De Ligt's injury is really hurting the team right now as Leny is not stepping up to the mark.
 
I think his confidence is shot. Last season he could be too impetuous, which led to him getting caught out, but at least he was proactive. This season he seems really passive, almost as if those mistakes have left him too scared to commit.
 
This Yoro decline in his second season is probably the "red flag" that worries me the most.

We signed a promising young CB who was wanted by all the top clubs, and he had a fantastic 'better than expected' first season with us. In the second season, he looks a shadow of himself and I was actually annoyed when I saw they were starting him ahead of Heaven.

How do we turn a promising young defender into whatever we are seeing now.
 
Tallis said:
This Yoro decline in his second season is probably the "red flag" that worries me the most.

We signed a promising young CB who was wanted by all the top clubs, and he had a fantastic 'better than expected' first season with us. In the second season, he looks a shadow of himself and I was actually annoyed when I saw they were starting him ahead of Heaven.

How do we turn a promising young defender into whatever we are seeing now.
Click to expand...
The issue with signing a "promising defender" is that the quality of a defender is more dependent on the collective than the individual. Attackers are more dependent on the individual qualities they bring, but a top defender won't stand out if you don't have a good defence overall. Whether it's consistency in selection, rhythm, understanding/chemistry between players, player quality, the system to make them & the team in front of them organized, the player suiting the league and opponents and complimenting his partners... It all plays a huge part.

It's why I never understood why we spent so much on Yoro. We needed other things more. Yoro was insanely expensive for a CB prospect, and there is no guarantee CB prospect, ever. You build a cohesive system that is balanced and defends well, and then slot in defenders into that who fit. A young player was always too big of a gamble.
 
Name me a world class defender who became world class before joining a top team and/or playing with established defenders? I'll wait.

Yoro needs a stable, experienced defender beside him in order to improve. Our defense has been shaky for 15 years now, we don't have a firm back 4/5, whichever number, we rotate heavily there due to injuries and lack of personnel.
 
The Sad Clown said:
Really? Was he even really that good last season?
Click to expand...
You could see the positives to his game last season. His recovery pace and ability to carry the ball forward were on show multiple times. This season he is really passive and you can see him second guessing himself with when to commit and when to stand off, which usually results in him standing off too much due to not wanting to make a mistake.
 
Is United ever going to stop spending absurd amounts of money on young, unproven "project" players?

Leny is threatening to become our defensive equivalent of Hojlund.

A positive for him is that central defenders rarely play regular first team football at such a young age, and usually peak mid to late 20s or even later, so he has time on his side.

But I don't know why we blow so much money on what are really 50-50 punts.
 
The guy just needs a break I think, maybe give him a month without starting. You have enough CBs.
 
Oscar Bonavena said:
Is United ever going to stop spending absurd amounts of money on young, unproven "project" players?

Leny is threatening to become our defensive equivalent of Hojlund.

A positive for him is that central defenders rarely play regular first team football at such a young age, and usually peak mid to late 20s or even later, so he has time on his side.

But I don't know why we blow so much money on what are really 50-50 punts.
Click to expand...
:

Oscar Bonavena said:
Is United ever going to stop spending absurd amounts of money on young, unproven "project" players?

Leny is threatening to become our defensive equivalent of Hojlund.

A positive for him is that central defenders rarely play regular first team football at such a young age, and usually peak mid to late 20s or even later, so he has time on his side.

But I don't know why we blow so much money on what are really 50-50 punts.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if you go back and look at what the historical legendary Premiership centre-backs were doing, up to the age of 20, you swiftly see that they were barely playing.

Vidic was at his first club, Red Star Belgrade, not playing at all.

Rio Ferdinand was mainly backup at West Ham.

John Terry was at Chelsea, being picked for the FA and league cup games mainly, and had made something like 6 Prem appearances by Yoro’s age.

Kompany was playing for Hamburg, but only played 6 league matches that season.

VVD was at his first club, Groningen, and only played 7 matches in the year he turned 20.

Now, all of those went on to become key players in title winning sides, but it was not even remotely certain at the time that that’s what lay ahead of them.

So whilst I think you have a point about the money spent, we could be looking at the next Rio; it’s way to early to be viewing him as money wasted. And in contrast Yoro has made 54 appearances in the last 13 months he’s been available for Utd.
 
NicolaSacco said:
:



Yeah, if you go back and look at what the historical legendary Premiership centre-backs were doing, up to the age of 20, you swiftly see that they were barely playing.

Vidic was at his first club, Red Star Belgrade, not playing at all.

Rio Ferdinand was mainly backup at West Ham.

John Terry was at Chelsea, being picked for the FA and league cup games mainly, and had made something like 6 Prem appearances by Yoro’s age.

Kompany was playing for Hamburg, but only played 6 league matches that season.

VVD was at his first club, Groningen, and only played 7 matches in the year he turned 20.

Now, all of those went on to become key players in title winning sides, but it was not even remotely certain at the time that that’s what lay ahead of them.

So whilst I think you have a point about the money spent, we could be looking at the next Rio; it’s way to early to be viewing him as money wasted. And in contrast Yoro has made 54 appearances in the last 13 months he’s been available for Utd.
Click to expand...

I'm sure he played more than a backup would have at West Ham, he was in the 1998 WC squad at 19, he didn't play but he was there on merit.
 
Oranges038 said:
I'm sure he played more than a backup would have at West Ham, he was in the 1998 WC squad at 19, he didn't play but he was there on merit.
Click to expand...

Yeah, fair point, in the year he turned 20 he made 35 prem appearances, so definitely 1st choice, even if come were as sub.
 
NicolaSacco said:
Yeah, fair point, in the year he turned 20 he made 35 prem appearances, so definitely 1st choice, even if come were as sub.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with the overall point though, most players at 20 aren't playing at top clubs to a very high level every week. Generally in all positions players that age need to be playing at a level or expectation relative to where to where they are at development wise.

If you look at Varane who came from a similar background in Lens, he played about 70 games in his first 3 years at Real. Before really kicking on and establishing himself in the team. Yoro looks to be on course for a similar amount of games by the end of his second season.

He's struggled lately, but there's been glimpses of what he can do. Really is hard to judge how good he can become at this stage.
 
I'm all for signing young promising players at a reasonable price, but United's problems are

(a) we're paying "finished article" prices for youngsters who we have no idea if they're going to be top quality or not

(b) we're having to drop them into the first team because we don't have enough experienced players for their position

This is what happened with Hojlund and the exact same thing is now happening with Yoro.
 
West Ham 1:1 Man Utd
We wouldn’t have got a point if it wasn’t for him.
 
Fair play Yoro. Was having bit of a bad season but he covered and played the last man fantastically in that half.
 
Hope that’s boosted his confidence. Did well
 
Cruscial saves from Lenny. Very well done. A bit too rushed at the end with that long ball.
 
Think that's a good game to signal a transition away from Maguire in the starting lineup to Yoro. His defensive work was excellent, and we need a bit of pace in that backline, as you're never going to be able to play a complete high press with Maguire and Martinez at the back.
 
As good as a performance off the bench as we could've possibly asked for really. He won us a point as much as Sesko did.
 
Excellent tonight. Needs Maguire to move on in the summer to get him in the team.
 
Probably MOTM in the grand scheme of things. Saved two huge chances
 
You must log in or register to reply here.