Manchester United can get their own Saliba but must pay £43m for 18-year-old

Add as preferred source on Google

Lille are demanding a minimum of £43 million for Leny Yoro after Premier League giants Manchester United made ‘contact’ with the 18-year-old centre-half.

Alongside Goncalo Inacio, Jarrad Branthwaite, Giorgio Scalvini and Antonio Silva, we can now add another of Europe’s up-and-coming centre-halves to Manchester United’s list of defensive targets.

The Red Devils are prioritising defensive reinforcements in 2024. Especially with doubts swirling over the future of Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof.

According to French publication Le10 Sport, United and arch rivals City both initiated ‘contact’ with Lille over Lenny Yoro recently, but a club who sold Nicolas Pepe, Eden Hazard, Rafael Leao, Sven Botman and Victor Osimhen for big fees are in no mood to let the 18-year-old leave on the cheap.

Manchester United like Lille defender Leny Yoro

The bidding for Yoro, Foot Mercato claim, must start at 50 million euros. Or, if you like, £43 million. Such a fee would make Yoro one of the most expensive 18-year-old’s in football history, with interest from Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain – to name but three – highlighting the size of the task facing Manchester United.

Lille team-mate Remy Cabella, the one-time Newcastle winger, sees similarities between Yoro and a player he shared a dressing room with at St Etienne. And if Yoro can emulate William Saliba’s impact in England, that £43 million would be money very well spent.

“At Marseille, I knew Boubacar Kamara, at Saint-Étienne, William Saliba and Wesley Fofana. And now there’s Leny Yoro,” Cabella tells the Ligue 1 website. “He has all the qualities and potential to do something huge.

“He’s very humble and that’s another of his strengths.”

United’s answer to William Saliba

Yoro only celebrated his 18^th birthday in November. The France Under 21 international has scored twice in 14 league games for Lille this season

Manchester United, meanwhile, will be without both Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez against Liverpool on Sunday, while Varane’s inclusion is also uncertain after he recently fell out of favour with Erik ten Hag.