Manchester United have announced the signing of the French defender Leny Yoro from Lille. The 18-year-old has signed a five-year deal with the club with the option to extend for a further year.
The fee is understood to be €62m (£52.2m) plus €8m of add-ons and Yoro becomes their second signing of the summer, after last week’s arrival of Joshua Zirkzee.
The teenager has already featured 60 times for Lille and was named in the Ligue 1 team of the season after helping the club finish fourth last season.
Yoro said: “Signing for a club with the stature and ambition of Manchester United so early in my career is an incredible honour. Since my first conversations with the club, they set out a clear plan for how I can develop in Manchester as part of this exciting project, and showed a lot of care for me and my family.
“I know about the history of young players at Manchester United and feel it can be the perfect place to reach my potential and achieve my ambitions, together with my new teammates. I cannot wait to get started.”
It is understood United are not ruling out making further defensive additions at the right price, subject to successfully balancing their budget this summer.
United’s sporting director, Dan Ashworth, said: “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.
“Having had such an excellent start to his career we are excited to support him in reaching his immense potential here at Manchester United. This club has a fantastic record of developing young players, whether homegrown or brought in from elsewhere, and giving them the required guidance, time and patience to grow and flourish.
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“Under Erik ten Hag and our excellent staff we will ensure that Leny has the perfect platform to achieve the success that everyone across the club is aiming for.”
With players such as Anthony Martial and Raphaël Varane departing Old Trafford at the end of the season, it is understood replacing them with developing young players such as Zirkzee and Yoro was a priority for United, with work focused on signing the latter going on in the background since before the end of last season.
Source: theguardian.com
