Leny Yoro knew all about Manchester United before he joined the club from Lille in 2024.
The 20-year-old defender revealed in our latest episode of Influencers that he started his football life as a winger, and grew up fascinated watching Reds legends like Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani.
“I was really tall when I was young,”
the Frenchman told host and United striker Danny Webber. “So for them [Yoro's youth teams] it was better for me to play at the back.
"I tried to fight to play winger and striker for a long time, but they just told me to go back.
“I don't think [if] I was [a] winger, I would be here [at United], so it was good for me to play at centre-back.”
Despite initial resistance to the position, Yoro was soon fully committed to his new role and would later take inspiration from the likes of our former defender Rio Ferdinand, who played his role in convincing the youngster to join a couple of years ago with a phone call.
In his first club interview in 2024, Leny revealed just how important that contact from such a legendary figure was, partly because he'd been watched the former England international growing up.
Throughout the disagreements around his best position as a young player, a consistent theme for our no.15 was looking up to United figures he felt best represented him at any one time.
Unsurprisingly, in that initial interview, Yoro said it was “a dream”
to sign for United – but the same could not be said for his start to life with the Reds.
In pre-season that same summer, in one of his first outings for the club, against Arsenal in the United States, the France youth international picked up a metatarsal injury which would later require surgery.
Having signed in July 2024, the centre-back was forced to wait until December that same year to make his competitive debut, coincidentally also against the Gunners, following an intense period of recovery and rehabilitation.
It was tough to take at the time, but showing a strength in mentality – which Yoro said in his Influencers episode was inspired by the likes of Rio, along with basketball icons Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant – the youngster has reflected since and managed to find positives in the setback.
“A couple of times, I think, 'There are good things in this injury,'”
he told Webber. “Like you say, to settle, to understand the level, how big United is.
”I had time to think about this and to get used to it, so this helped me also, yeah.“
The defender is on a run of six consecutive starts under Michael Carrick, a place he'd much rather be than in the treatment room, but his early fitness obstacle and his bounce back from that enforced stuttered start shows he has a strength of mind far beyond his years – one fostered by some of the Reds greats he looked up to.
Watch the latest episode of Influencers, featuring Leny Yoro, available now across our platforms.