Voice of the coaches | Liverpool and Manchester United transfer target in Ligue 1

Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain are all keen to sign Lilla defender Leny Yoro. That club list alone will tell you he is a player with a lot of potential. At the age of 18, he has already played 60 first-team matches for the French club, including nine in the Europa Conference League. In fact, he played more minutes on the pitch for Lille in the 2023/24 league season than anyone and was also selected for the Ligue 1 team of the year.

Born in a suburb of Paris in 2005, Yoro made his first team debut for Lille when he was just 16 years, six months and one day old. As usual in the 2023/24 campaign, he helped the club finish fourth in Ligue 1, qualifying for the third preliminary round of the Champions League. His form proved enough for Thierry Henry to name him in France’s preliminary squad for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Here, our UEFA licensed coaches analyzed Yoro’s game, including his position and technical abilities…

Technical analysis

A right-footed centre-back, Yoro defends central spaces well, either aggressively or in a more controlled manner. He frequently played the role of covering center back or last defender. This helps explain why the number of actions attributed to him – at the time of writing – is less than that of his teammates and other centre-backs.

He wasn’t the most frequent duelist in Lille’s 2023/24 campaign, but he had the best success rate. As he engaged an attacker, he was effective in stopping his direct opponent from turning. His controlled approach often allows him to pinch or push the ball, making it difficult for the attacker to maintain possession. Even if he doesn’t win the ball back cleanly, he usually does enough to force mistakes, delaying the opposition and helping his midfield teammates regain possession while working back (below).

It’s rare to see Yoro thrown when defending his opponent from behind. As such, he was not usually exposed when defending the spaces just ahead of the back line. He could, however, work on the detail on which shoulder to defend. At times he applied pressure to the wrong side, allowing his direct opponent to cross the other way – when he commits from the outside, the striker can cross and combine back to the centre. A penetrating midfield runner can then be a problem, exploiting the space between Yoro and his central partner. Defending more from the inside of the shoulder would help him avoid this problem.

When defending against throwing attackers, he looked to intercept more than duel, though still not with great frequency. More notable was his coverage of teammates, especially his center partner (below). Due to his age and inexperience, he is still developing his physicality and authority in his position, which will surely see him become the first duelist more often.

He certainly has the technical ability to defend first contacts more often and this will likely happen with more exposure in the first team. At 6ft 3in, his stature will also help him compete in the air and as he bulks up, he should have the frame to compete with big, imposing centre-forwards. In 2023/24, Yoro already had the best aerial duel success rate (67.86%) at Lille and the fifth best in Ligue 1.

With the ball, he has tended to play relatively simple and consistent passes, perhaps not yet comfortable or particularly willing to break lines and expose gaps in the opposition block. His passing accuracy was therefore quite high (94.2% in 2023/24), with the majority of these passes in his own half and at a modest pace. He registered the second most assists for Lille in the 2023/24 Ligue 1 season, but not in particularly progressive fashion (below).

Yoro can get the ball out of the back when needed, but again he hasn’t been particularly progressive in this area. His style was to take the space he was given rather than commit to breaking a line as, say, John Stones would. His ability to bait and lure individual opponents has yet to be seen consistently. Again, because of his age, along with the position he plays, he is likely to be more progressive and decisive with his transition going forward.

Back-four in defence

Throughout the 2023/24 season, Yoro operated as a right-sided central defender in a back four, with Lille usually playing either a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3. He was partnered with Alexsandro in central defence, with Ismaily, Tiago Santos, Bafodé Diakité and Gabriel Gudmundsson all used in full-back roles. Yoro’s wide coverage proved useful when Lille’s right-back – Santos or Diakité – jumped to press alongside the pivot double. Here, Yoro showed his flexibility in protecting channel balls, tracking down runners and covering under exciting full-backs (below).

Yoro also showed his timing and understanding to intercept back passes inside or attempt reverse or cover passes out wide. Here, he also covered the inside and protected the central midfielders underneath, often using them to double the receiving forward when the opposition played them. Defending these central spaces, he demonstrated the ability to intercept, read and predict the play.

When working alongside his central-defensive partner Alexsandro, he often covered and protected the former at the back. Indeed, Alexsandro played the 13th most Ligue 1 matches in 2023/24. Yoro also covered and supported defensive midfielder Benjamin André, who was another duel and key tackler at first contact for Lille. When Alexsandro provided wide defensive support on Lille’s left, Yoro worked around André to cover and protect the inside channel on the left as well as the penalty area for any resulting crosses, cut-backs or combinations inside.

Build

During Lille’s training, Yoro combined with his central partner and front pivots (below). From his preferred 4-2-3-1, he played simple passes with the pivots – André, Nabil Bentaleb or Angel Gomes – with the aim of getting the opposing midfield out of line. However, he rarely looked for penetrating first-time passes in the number 10 and centre-forward pairing. This is something that would raise his game significantly.

Yoro also used their full-backs as they initially started deeper, combining here with the pivots before getting the ball into the wings to attack 1v1. The full-backs then joined in the forward attack, with Yoro widening to support underneath. His wide movement would also allow pivots to drop into the back line if necessary.

His positioning at these times also acted as the main barrier in stopping opposing counter-attacks, should Lille’s build-up phase deteriorate. Yoro’s wider coverage as his defenders recovered demonstrated his ability to shield and delay. His central defense around and alongside Alexsandro also delayed attacks, forcing play into traffic where teammates can then duel.

Yoro is definitely a talent to watch. His progress so far has been impressive, and yet the interesting thing is that he still has quite a bit of room for improvement. Whether it will be at Lille or one of the many clubs courting his signature, France have another potential gem in their playing group.

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Author: Voice of the coaches