According to Sports Zone, Lille’s Leny Yoro is wanted by Chelsea and PSG but the young centre-back prefers a summer move to Real Madrid.
Yoro is Lille’s homegrown talent who made his senior debut for the club in 2022. Last season, he played in only 15 games across all competitions but this time around, he’s been an ever-present figure in the first-team.
The 18-year-old is out of contract with Lille in 2025 and while the club has offered him several new deals, the youngster has rejected them all because he wishes to leave at the end of this season. His market value currently is €40 million and with just one year remaining, the Ligue 1 side are preparing for the inevitable this summer.
What kind of a player is Leny Yoro and can he be a success at Madrid?
In today’s generation when defenders like to push forward and squeeze the opponents in their own half, Yoro is one of those rare centre-backs who likes to hold back and remain in his half most of the time. He’s a short to mid-range passer, has a great reading of the game and he’s defensively very sound.
This season has been the coming of age for the 18-year-old as he’s played in 30 league games for Lille, starting 28 of those. In 2492 minutes of league football, Leny Yoro has been dispossessed just once and he’s won almost 73% of his tackles.
He’s made as many as 119 recovery runs and he’s been dribbled past just 11 times in 30 games. Yoro is equally good at winning ground and aerial duels and this season, he has a success rate of more than 60% in both departments.
Chelsea and PSG have been keeping tabs on the 18-year-old for quite some time and even though they have not given up hope, if Yoro wishes to join Real Madrid there’s not much they can do.
Lille won’t be able to quote a very high transfer fee for Leny Yoro because he has only one year left on his deal so Chelsea and PSG could try and overpay for the central defender. However, Yoro wants to play for Madrid and unless the Los Blancos officially give up their chase, he is not going to change his mind.
Real Madrid hardly spend money on useless players and if they can be patient with Leny Yoro for one or two seasons then he will definitely come good. At the start of the year, Lille had set a summer price tag of around €60 million for the centre-back but since then, they have softened their tone and experts believe the defender will be sold for around €50 million.
