Real Madrid target ‘touched by’ Man Utd accepted offer as defender views bid as ‘significant’

Lille centre-back Leny Yoro has been ‘touched by’ interest from Man Utd in his signature as the Red Devils battle Real Madrid, according to reports.

The Red Devils are looking to make a number of early moves in the transfer market after making Bologna forward Joshua Zirkzee their first summer signing over the weekend in a deal worth around £36.5m.

Everton’s imminent sale of Amadou Onana to Aston Villa is likely to spell the end of Man Utd interest in Jarrad Branthwaite as the Toffees will maintain that the Red Devils must pay their £70m-plus asking price.

Man Utd are now reportedly focusing their efforts on signing Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich – who is ‘keen’ on joining – while there have been claims that they have had a bid accepted for Lille centre-back Yoro.

The Red Devils offer was for €50m and French newspaper Le Parisien claims that the Premier League outfit has made ‘convincing arguments’ to sign Yoro with Man Utd even willing to increase their offer to €60m to get ahead of Real Madrid in the race to sign the Frenchman.

Yoro ‘touched by’ interest from Man Utd

While another French outlet Le Petit Lillois insists that the Premier League side are ‘ready to raise the stakes’ to beat Real Madrid to his signature with Yoro leaning towards a move to the La Liga giants.

But Real Madrid are being left behind in the race, unless they hugely increase the amount they are willing to pay for Yoro with previous claims that Los Blancos have only offered a ‘€20m package so far’ .

Despite Real Madrid seemingly having the advantage with the player, Yoro is said to be ‘touched by’ interest from Man Utd and views their bid as ‘significant’ after Erik ten Hag took concrete steps to sign him.

After reports that Man Utd had seen their bid accepted for Yoro, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano insisted that it is now down to the 18-year-old to make his decision.

“Another big story from yesterday was Man United’s official bid for Leny Yoro, which was accepted by Lille,” Romano said last week.

“The club president Olivier Letang is now pushing for Yoro to join Man United, as that is now the best proposal they have on the table – it’s €50m plus add-ons that could take the deal up to €60m.

MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Vice-chairman claims deal for £40m Man Utd star is ‘being discussed’ as ‘allocated budget’ is revealed
👉 Man Utd ‘breached PSR in 2023/24’ as reason for avoiding points deduction revealed
👉 Erik ten Hag ‘counts on’ £25.5m La Liga winger at Man Utd amid Arsenal interest

“So, Man United are offering big money to Lille to anticipate all the other clubs, but now the decision is for Yoro. Lille hope he will decide to go Old Trafford, but Real Madrid are still there, they are still confident and feel they are in control. Why? Because Real Madrid have been very clear – the only way to close the deal is on their conditions, they will not over-pay for Yoro when he’s due to be out of contract next summer.

“Real Madrid are ready to wait to get the deal done on their terms, or to even close the deal on a free transfer next summer because they know Yoro will not sign a new deal, and that he wants to join Real Madrid.

“Now it’s on Yoro and his decision – will he accept Man United or wait for Real Madrid? Real Madrid know that Yoro’s dream is to play for them, and also Man United won’t wait forever because they are also looking at other centre-backs and they don’t want this to be something that drags on throughout the summer.

“Man United wanted to try and show ambition, so it’s never a wasted effort or something negative, in my opinion. They tried to be ‘aggressive’ in a positive sense, trying to show their intentions…now it’s on Yoro.”