Leny Yoro: Who is Manchester United's New 'Mini Rolls Royce'?

From ‘fox in the box’ strikers to tricky wingers and midfield playmakers that can thread the eye of a needle with a pass, football has long been characterised by player tropes.

 
The central defender genre has changed over the years. Decades ago, it was tall, strong hardmen that kicked or headed anything that moved that were desired. But now, clubs are looking out for the latest craze in centre back play: the fabled Rolls Royce.

 
Common traits of the Rolls Royce defender include athleticism, pace and outstanding technical ability; the sort of player that could happily play in midfield if put there.

 
If former Manchester United defender Danny Simpson is to be believed, Erik ten Hag has just landed himself a shiny new ‘Baby Rolls Royce’ in Leny Yoro, the 18-year-old signed from Lille in a deal worth around £59 million.

 
Apparently, it was a phone call from another purveyor of silky-smooth defending, Rio Ferdinand, that persuaded Yoro to choose Manchester over Madrid, Real to be exact.

 
So have the Red Devils bagged themselves a Rolls Royce, or will Yoro turn out to be a clapped out Lada like so many defenders signed by United in recent years?

 
Old Head, Young Shoulders

Even though he’s just 18, Yoro made 60 first-team appearances at Lille before switching to Old Trafford, including 30 Ligue 1 games last season.

That goes to show the trust that Paulo Fonseca, the former Lille head coach who has since moved to AC Milan this summer, had in his young star. This was powered no doubt by the Portuguese manager’s desire to play out from the back.

Yoro’s pass success rate was a whopping 92.2% last season; a fine effort from a player that played 2,672 minutes of Ligue 1 football. For context, of the other eight Lille players that took to the field for 2,000 or more minutes, only Angel Gomes surpassed 90%.

To make matters all the more impressive, that 92.2% success rate came from 1,880 attempted passes, the tenth-most in all of Ligue 1 last term, and meant that Yoro had the fourth highest return for completed passes in the division.

It should be said that the 18-year-old ranked just 33rd in Ligue 1 for progressive distance, which reveals that he was playing lots of sideways passes and short balls into midfield, hence the success rate. But even so, it’s evident that Yoro is an accomplished recycler of possession; the epitome of Rolls Royce ball-playing from the back.

Manchester United fans will no doubt be pleased to hear that Yoro has the ability to play out from defence, not something that can be attributed to the likes of Harry Maguire, Raphael Varane, Jonny Evans and co. But they’ll also want to know that their new teenager can perform basic defensive tasks too; conceding fewer goals will be just one of the ways that the Red Devils can improve their fortunes in the Premier League.

Even though he’s still a young man, Yoro has already had his growth spurt. He stands some 6ft 2in tall, and while lithe of build he can still handle himself in the air, with a decent leap and strength to hold off his opponents.

And despite his profile as a contemporary centre back, Yoro also isn’t afraid to do the dirty work. He averaged three clearances per 90 minutes for Lille last term, which shows he’s willing to put his body on the line to defend his goal.

Only Nice and PSG conceded fewer goals per game last season than Lille, while Fonseca’s men actually ranked second for xG against. Of course, it takes a whole team to defend well, but Yoro was central to that excellent defensive record. Assuming he can make the transition seamlessly to the Premier League, Manchester United might just have a star of today and tomorrow on their hands.

The Future’s Oranje

In the Netherlands, Rinus Michels, Johan Cruyff and others were responsible for the creation of ‘total football’. That mouth-watering football style of fluidity, dynamism and sublime attacking play.
Both the Dutch national team (The Oranje) and Ajax have been the premier purveyors of total football on the country over the years, and while the Amsterdam-based outfit have fallen on hard times of late, during Ten Hag’s reign at the club things went swimmingly.

Three Eredivisie titles and two domestic cup wins brought success back to Amsterdam, but it was the run to the semi-finals of the 2018/19, which included a 4-1 thrashing of Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, that marked Ten Hag’s Ajax out as a side able to match total football with a defensive steel.

His career win rate as a manager is 62.79%. It was up around 67% before heading to Old Trafford, which makes you think that the United hierarchy have done the right thing in handing Ten Hag a stay of execution as head coach.

However, the 2024/25 campaign will be his last act as Manchester United boss if things don’t improve. It would be fair to say that he’s been hamstrung by the club’s awful player recruitment policy in recent times, but as he now heads into his third season in charge. Thus having had time to bring his own players in, it’s an excuse that is starting to fade in viability.

Yoro, you sense, will be the first of many new pieces of the puzzle that head to Old Trafford this summer. Who else joins remains to be seen, with Joshua Zirkzee the first to sign on the dotted line.

A Dutch striker signed from Bologna, who enjoyed a fine season in Serie A last term, Zirkzee is as described: a pacy, dynamic centre forward. Whether Ten Hag is tempted to play two up top, with Zirkzee joining Rasmus Hojlund, remains to be seen. What’s more likely is that Zirkzee will replace Hojlund, providing a speedy outlet in attack that the manager so craved while in charge at Ajax.

Young signings with bags of potential: it’s always a gamble to sign youthful players who will be stepping up to the big time with their move to Old Trafford.

But given that this is Ten Hag’s final roll of the dice, he will lean heavily on Yoro and Zirkzee in a bid to recapture former glories at Manchester United.

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