Manchester United trying to speed up talks over £78m target and lead PSG in race

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Manchester United are reportedly looking to ‘speed up’ talks with Lille over Leny Yoro but a £78 million price-tag slapped on the teenager’s head makes a move to the Premier League giants this month all but impossible.

Try as they might – and try they most certainly are – Manchester United appear to be on a hiding to nothing when it comes to their pursuit of an 18-year-old centre-half taking Ligue 1 by storm amid comparisons with William Saliba and Raphael Varane.

Leny Soro has been one of the revelations of the current campaign across the Channel.

And with Man United showing an interest in a bunch of talented young defenders – Yoro joining Antonio Silva, Goncalo Inacio, Jarrad Branthwaite and co on the wishlist – Le10 Sport claims that the Red Devils have tried to accelerate talks with Lille over the last few weeks.

Their pursuit is understood to be more advanced at this stage than that of Paris Saint-Germain too.

Lille block Manchester United move

Lille, however, have slammed down the shutters, making it clear that any deal is far more likely in June than it is in January. Les Dogues president Olivier Letang is reportedly demanding 90 million euros (or £78 million) for a player who only celebrated his 18th birthday in November.

With funds tight at Old Trafford – United are likely to be restricted to short-term loans and bargain buys again – Yoro is a target who will have to be placed on the backburner until the summer, in the hope that PSG, Liverpool or another of his growing throng of admirers do not seize the opportunity to overtake United in the meantime.

The next Raphael Varane?

“He could pass for someone fragile, but he is a monster,” a source familiar with Yoro’s rapid rise to prominence tells Le Parisien.

“When I saw Leny Yoro, he was a portrait of Raphael Varane. The same attitude, the same potential, the same maturity at the same age, the same size…”

With most if not all of United’s centre-back targets valued at a minimum of £40 million, a new defensive signing will likely have to wait until the summer, when INEOS will be calling the shots at Old Trafford.