Leny Yoro makes United debut at Arsenal

The 19-year-old defender arrived from French side Lille in the summer but has been sidelined since suffering a foot injury against tonight's hosts in pre-season.

Yoro was introduced by Ruben Amorim as part of a triple change in the 59th minute, and went on to play the remainder of the contest as the right-sided defender in our back three.

After an impressive campaign with his former club, and having been touted as a transfer target for Real Madrid before his arrival in Manchester, there was naturally plenty of excitement when Leny touched down in England ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.

Just two days after his signing was confirmed, the centre-back gave our supporters a glimpse of his quality in a pre-season victory over Rangers in Edinburgh, but was only able to complete 35 minutes of our next outing, a Stateside friendly against Arsenal in Los Angeles a week later, before being withdrawn with a metatarsal injury.

Yoro subsequently underwent successful surgery on his foot and has since been working hard behind the scenes in the gym at our Carrington training ground, in anticipation of representing the Reds for the first time on the competitive scene.

Our no.15 returned to the grass in October and to team training the following month, before he was named in our matchday squad for the first time on Wednesday evening.

Jurrien Timber had opened the scoring for the hosts five minutes before the introduction of Yoro, who was tasked with helping Amorim's side find a route back into the contest against the title-chasing Gunners.

Despite the home team extending their advantage through Leny's compatriot William Saliba, and going on to secure the win, our young defender was able to make several notable interventions as he builds his match sharpness back up.

His ball-winning tackle on Leandro Trossard, as the Belgian was bearing down on goal, was well received by our travelling supporters at the opposite end of the stadium, minutes before the 19-year-old's last-ditch clearance stopped Trossard getting on the end of a centre from Bukayo Saka, even if the offside flag did go up straight after the ball went out of play.

It is obviously not the result Leny would have liked on his Premier League bow, but his return is a rewarding sight after a difficult start to his Reds career and a definite positive for Amorim's men, early into what is a busy December schedule.