Leny Yoro's Journey at Manchester United: Time to Shine
Leny Yoro has been at Manchester United for two seasons now, long enough for the anticipation to turn into a question: when does the talent everyone talks about actually take over the pitch?
So far, it hasn’t. Not fully. Not in the way a £52million signing from Lille at 18 was supposed to reshape a back line. But this summer offers him a clean runway.
Out of position, but back in the picture
United’s pre-season opened with a defeat to Wrexham, and Yoro found himself shunted out to right-back, an unfamiliar role for a player built to patrol the centre. It was hardly the stage on which a young centre-half dreams of announcing himself.
Yet it matters that he was there at all.
While many of the club’s biggest names remain absent, Michael Carrick has had a core group working from day one at Carrington. Yoro is in that group, banking minutes, building rhythm, and nudging himself ahead of rivals who will return later and need time to catch up.
Carrick is expected to take a similar squad to Trondheim to face Rosenborg as the one that played the Championship side in Helsinki. That probably means another outing at right-back for Yoro. It is not glamorous, and it is not his future. But it keeps him on the grass, in the manager’s eye, and closer to the centre of defence when the real decisions come.
A vacancy at the heart of defence
The path to that central role is opening up.
Against Wrexham, Harry Maguire and Ayden Heaven started together at centre-back and could continue as the pairing against Rosenborg. Matthijs de Ligt remains at Carrington, still working his way back from back surgery, and he will not be ready for the start of the new campaign.
Lisandro Martinez completes what, on paper, looks like a formidable defensive unit. But his summer has been scarred by World Cup disappointment. He finished the tournament with his shirt over his face, forced off injured after being named in the team of the tournament. He is now on holiday, a sign the issue is not thought to be serious, yet as of Wednesday he still did not know the full extent of the problem.
Even if Martinez gets the all-clear and returns to training in early August, sharpness is another matter. With United’s Premier League season kicking off against newly-promoted Hull City on August 22, there is a strong chance he will not be ready to start at the MKM Stadium.
That leaves a gap. A big one. A starting berth alongside Maguire is there to be claimed.
Heaven, 19, is the natural left-footed mirror of Martinez, and his profile fits neatly into that role. But in terms of development, Yoro is still ahead. United did not beat Real Madrid to his signature and pay £52m in 2024 to watch him circle the bench indefinitely.
They expected a regular. They have had a bit-part player.
A reputation still waiting to explode
Across two Premier League seasons, Yoro has started only 30 games. The flashes have been there: the timing in the tackle, the composure in tight spaces, the sense that he reads danger half a second quicker than those around him. Just not often enough, and not with the authority that once had him labelled one of the best young defenders in the world.
Dan Ashworth, United’s sporting director at the time of his signing, did not hold back in his assessment.
“Leny is one of the most exciting young defenders in world football; he possesses every attribute needed to develop into a top-class centre-back,” he said.
Those attributes have not gone anywhere. What has been missing is the sustained platform to show them. Since joining, Yoro has been named on the bench in the Premier League 28 times. Too often, he has watched others live the games he needs to grow.
He turns 21 in November. For any young defender, that is the age where promise is supposed to harden into presence. For Yoro, the stakes rise even higher with a looming shift on the international stage. Zinedine Zidane is set to replace Didier Deschamps as France coach, and a new regime brings new eyes, new ideas, new opportunities.
Yoro will know what this season can become. Establish himself at United, and a place in the French squad suddenly feels much closer.
Carrick’s loyalty vs Yoro’s ambition
There is a catch. Carrick’s success last season rested heavily on consistency. He trusted his strongest XI and rarely tinkered with a winning formula. For players like Yoro, that reliability became a barrier.
When everyone is fit, Maguire and Martinez remain the first-choice partnership. De Ligt will return with his own point to prove, eager to remind the club and the league of his pedigree. The queue at centre-back is not getting shorter.
Yoro cannot wait for an invitation. If he starts against Hull, that becomes his moment to plant a flag and refuse to move it. A commanding performance on opening day would not just fill a gap; it would ask a question of Carrick every time he writes a team sheet.
Inside the dressing room, there is a sense of what the future might look like. Maguire has spoken of Yoro and Heaven as a potential long-term pairing, United’s answer to Gabriel and William Saliba, the duo who have driven Arsenal’s rise and set the benchmark for defensive solidity in the Premier League.
That is the vision. Two young centre-backs growing together, learning the league, and locking down United’s back line for years.
For now, it remains an idea.
Yoro starts this summer out of position, tracking wingers and overlapping down the right. He will accept it, because he knows what sits beyond it. The first day of the new season is coming, and the centre of that defence will not pick itself.
