The Leny Yoro saga ended when the former LOSC Lille defender was announced as Manchester United’s latest signing on Thursday. Paris Saint-Germain was among the teams keen on him, but the teenager wanted a different challenge.
Liverpool, PSG, and Real Madrid were all in the race to sign Yoro. However, Manchester United’s successful bid for the 18-year-old surprised many, considering the Spanish giants were the favorites. This might explain why clubs like Liverpool didn’t put much effort into securing him.
The Daily Mail’s Chris Wheeler reports that Yoro was Liverpool’s primary target for the defense, but the Reds were convinced he only wanted to move to Spain.
In his latest column for CaughtOffside, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano explained why Yoro didn’t want to go to the French capital and decided to head to Old Trafford.
“Paris Saint-Germain were also interested but Yoro wanted to try a new challenge in a different league, so really it was Real Madrid who were the main rivals to United in this deal,” Romano noted in his Daily Briefing column.
“Yoro waited one week for Real Madrid, but they were out of the conversation with Lille after they accepted Man United’s bid. Then after a week of waiting, they understood that Yoro eventually decided to accept the chance to move to Old Trafford instead.
“Real Madrid was Yoro’s biggest dream, he really wanted to go there, but then he decided to move to Man United after seeing how strong and convincing they were in talks with the player and his family, also in terms of the project and offering him an important salary.”
According to a recent report from L’Equipe, PSG never officially bid for Yoro, but they did make an informal offer of up to €35 million plus €5 million in add-ons. Despite this, the Parisians were unwilling to go beyond €45 million, significantly less than Manchester United’s €62 million bid.
