Liverpool appears to have dodged a bullet with Leny Yoro this summer after the Frenchman was ruled out for three months with an injury .
The 18-year-old became a potential target for the Reds in the transfer window but the club opted not to pursue a deal after it became apparent he preferred Real Madrid . In the end, however, he ended up moving to arch rivals Manchester United in a deal worth up to $76million (£58.9m/€69.1m).
Having become one of Europe's brightest prospects during a remarkable 2023-24 campaign, the teenager looked like a real coup for the Red Devils, having earned himself a place in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year following his performances at center-back for Lille.
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However, things haven't quite gone to plan for either party. In just his second appearance for the club, a 2-1 friendly defeat to Arsenal on July 28 in the United States, Yoro was forced off through injury after just 35 minutes of the contest.
The defender had suffered a fracture of the fifth metatarsal (on the outside) of his left foot and is now expected to be ruled out for around three months. Yoro has since undergone surgery , but is already set to miss a large chunk of the season.
Alarmingly, however, Man United were all too aware that this could happen. According to The Athletic , medical scans showed a possible metatarsal issue when he initially joined the club last month, yet executives pressed ahead with the signing anyway.
They held the belief that the teenager will become a top player for United over the next decade and the opportunity to capture one of Europe’s highly-regarded young players, ahead of Real Madrid, was just too good to pass up.
But with the risk of an injury to Yoro hanging over its head, United decided to handle the youngster carefully following his arrival, only allowing him to train in 50 per cent of Erik ten Hag's sessions. Now, he is already on a three-month rehabilitation program and will be out of action until November.
United will not rush him back, of course, and had not expected the teenager to play week-in-week-out in the Premier League this season anyway, hence the arrival of another center-back in Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich .
But the whole debacle highlights how Liverpool was perhaps best not to pursue a move for the young Frenchman. In fact, the club may have opted to throw in the towel once Yoro's injury risks were revealed in a medical assessment, but the point still stands that he would have been a massive risk had he signed.
The Reds remain keen to find a replacement for Joel Matip but signing a player with injury issues like Yoro would have done the club no favors. The last thing Arne Slot needs is to have his star signing ruled out for the first three months of the campaign.
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