Leny Yoro: Profile, playing style, scouting report

With José Fonte moving to SC Braga, Leny Yoro is getting more minutes

Even with interest from very big clubs in this summer transfer window, defender Leny Yoro decided to stay and progress with LOSC Lille. Clubs such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain were keen on the centre-back. In the last season, Yoro made 13 appearances in Ligue 1 for the first team and 2 in the Coupe de France.

Yoro was born on 13 November 2005 in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. To be precise in the Saint-Maurice commune which is nearly 7km from the center of Paris. The 17-year-old centre-back stands tall at 1.90 metres.

The player holds dual citizenship of Cote d'Ivoire and France but has represented France in the U17, U18 and U19 setups. Yoro has even played an international friendly for the U21 side but has yet to represent them in an official competitive event.

Leny Yoro's progress till now from the early days

Yoro's journey into the realm of football began in the neighbourhood itself. In 2011 he joined the youth academy of a club called UJA Alfortville in the Alfortville suburbs of Paris. Now it is known as UJA Maccabi Paris Métropole after the merger of UJA Alfortville and SC Maccabi du Paris in 2012. In the same year, Yoro moved to Villeneuve d'Ascq Métropole where he kept progressing and training till 2017.

Since the year 2017, Leny Yoro has associated himself with LOSC Lille. Firstly in the youth program till July 2021 and thereafter with the Under 19 setup till January of next year. His growth was tremendous as it took just six months to be permanently called by the first team after being with LOSC Lille B side till July 2022.

His Ligue 1 debut came when he was just aged 16 years, 6 months and a day old. It was in a 3-1 away win against OGC Nice on matchday 37 of the 2021-22 Ligue 1 season under former coach Jocelyn Gourvennec. In Thursday's UEFA Europa Conference League encounter against Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag, we might see Leny Yoro getting a handful of minutes in the continental competition after representing Lille in the qualifiers.

Playing style of Leny Yoro

Leny Yoro has played quite a handful of first-team games, particularly in Ligue 1 by now. Last season, he was allowed to appear 13 times in the French league and recorded 766 minutes on the pitch. With the 39-year-old first-team centre-back José Fonte moving to SC Braga this summer, Yoro will surely end up getting more minutes. We can already see that. Since the 2023-24 Ligue 1 season began, Leny Yoro has already made 6 appearances out of the 7 matchday fixtures for LOSC Lille.

His playing style is similar to Lazio's Alessio Romagnoli, Liverpool's Ibrahima Konaté and Chelsea's Wesley Fofana. The right-footed Leny Yoro is highly confident as a 17-year-old upcoming star of French football. He maintains composure throughout the game and keeps his calm even in pressure situations. Although the player is still young and can grow physically more, Leny Yoro has already shown his strength in duels. His jumping ability is also fairly good.

Yoro's ability to generate great acceleration allows Lille to play a bit higher on the pitch. The defender can intelligently read the game and stop opposition attacks. Also having good first touch and passing abilities makes him reliable when the team has the possession. Yoro even has a neck to decipher opponents' press by his ball passing range and ability to shift the game from one part of the pitch to another.