Leny Yoro lined up for dream Man United shirt number after U-turn on £52m transfer

Leny Yoro lined up for dream Man United shirt number after U-turn on £52m transfer

Manchester United have announce the arrival of Leny Yoro from Lille after battling it out with Real Madrid to land the highly-rated French central defender

Leny Yoro will be able to keep his favoured number 15 shirt upon moving from Lille to Manchester United.

The young Frenchman seemed to prefer Real Madrid than the Premier League team, but United prevailed in the end. With a £52 million deal agreed upon, United announced the 18-year-old’s arrival on Thursday.

Yoro made his Lille debut at the age of sixteen, donning the number 33 shirt.

However, he changed it to the number 15 before the 2022–2023 season.

He turned eighteen in the fall, although he was a regular for the French team previous season, scoring three goals in 44 games across all competitions.

Sergio Reguilon wore number 15 for United during his loan spell last season, but that deal was terminated in January, so the center-back won’t have to compete with any current United players for the number.

The number 15 shirt at Old Trafford is arguably most closely associated with Nemanja Vidic.

The Serbian centre-back, a Premier League and Champions League winner, wore the shirt throughout his time with United and during a spell with Inter Milan.

More recently, the likes of Adnan Januzaj and Andreas Pereira have worn 15 for United. It was also the number chosen by Marcel Sabitzer during the Austria midfielder’s loan spell.