Manchester United have had a bid accepted for Lille defender Leny Yoro but Liverpool backed off from the deal
Sport
Sean McCormick Football Content Editor
14:30, 16 Jul 2024
Leny Yoro is wanted by Manchester United(Image: Franco Arland/Getty Images)Liverpool ‘backed off’ from a deal to sign Lille’s teenage defender Leny Yoro before Manchester United had a bid accepted for the 18-year-old.
That is according to the Athletic, who report the Reds ended their interest in the Frenchman once it emerged that a move to Champions League winners Real Madrid was his preferred destination.
Our sister title, Manchester Evening News, reported last week that United had seen an offer accepted for Yoro from Lille believed to be between £50-58million.
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Real Madrid are yet to match United’s bid for the player and, as such, Lille would rather deal with the Premier League side as things stand. That leaves the ball in Yoro’s court and it remains to be seen whether he softens his stance and makes the move to Old Trafford or digs his heels in to join the Spanish champions.
Yoro is out of contract at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium next summer and the French club are keen to do a deal this summer that extracts as much money as possible for one of their finest academy graduates.
United are in the market for three centre-halves this summer and are also tracking Bayern Munich’s Matthijs De Ligt and Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite.
Liverpool are looking to fill the void left by Joel Matip’s departure but are still well stocked at centre-half with Virgil van Dijk, Jarell Quansah, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez among the club’s options in that position.
They also have Nat Phillips, Rhys Williams and Sepp van den Berg on their books, who have all returned from their various loan spells last season, and they will look to find all three players new homes this summer.
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