Angel Gomes is convinced Lille team-mate Lenny Yoro will have a ‘great future’ with the Ligue 1 starlet tipped to follow in his Premier League footsteps at Manchester United.
The England under-21 international knows what it’s like to be a young player dealing with the pressure that comes with being labelled a ‘wonderkid’.
When making his debut under Jose Mourinho back in 2016, a 16-year-old Angel Gomes became the youngest Manchester United debutant since the mythical Duncan Edwards.
He was also a recipient of the prestigious Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year Award. A gong also rang by the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford. Kobbie Mainoo too.
Now 23 and plying his trade across the Channel with Lille these days, Gomes is well-placed to act as something of a mentor to a centre-half five years his junior, Leny Yoro’s standout displays raising speculation of a potential £78 million move to one of Europe’s A-list clubs.
Manchester United keen on Lille wonderkid Leny Yoro
“Leny, from when he first came (into the team), I knew immediately that he was going to go to the top,” Gomes, who has blossomed into a tempo-setting, deep-lying playmaker after leaving Man United following the expiry of his Red Devils contract, tells EuroSport.
“When I was at Manchester United as a 16-year-old, I understood what it was like to be around first-team players. But (Yoro) has a different type of temperament. His temperament isn’t normal or the same as a 16-year-old or 17-year-old coming in.
“It’s almost like he’s a senior pro, the way he trained and the way he conducted himself and everything. It was easy to see how things could only progress for him.”
Yoro only turned 18 in November. He has featured in all but one of Lille’s 21 Ligue 1 games this season, however. The 6ft 3ins colossus boasts the best statistics in Europe when it comes to winning his defensive duels, meanwhile. Numbers which have drawn comparisons with Virgil van Dijk and Manchester United’s own Raphael Varane.
Likened to Varane and Van Dijk
“He played a lot last season and he’s almost started every game this season,” Gomes adds. “(Yoro is) influential for us. He’s not even the type of player where I can say, ‘if he keeps his feet on the ground etc’.
“His feet are already on the ground. The type of kid he is, he can only go on to have a great future.”
According to reports, Yoro is unlikely to extend his contract at Lille with Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool joining Man United in pursuit. That long-awaited Ineos takeover could give Erik ten Hag’s side a timely advantage, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s camp boating a strong relationship with Yoro’s agent, Jorge Mendes.
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