Romano ‘congratulates’ Man Utd for securing ‘surprising’ transfer as he reveals U-turn details

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has “congratulated” Manchester United for beating La Liga champions Real Madrid in the race to sign 18-year-old Leny Yoro.

The teenager was being pursued by clubs across Europe after making 32 Ligue Un appearances for Lille during the 2023/24 campaign.

Yoro was linked with several Premier League clubs but Real Madrid were widely considered to be his most likely next destination.

However, Man Utd swooped to beat Real Madrid in the race to land Yoro as the La Liga giants were unwilling to pay a sizable fee to sign a player entering the final year of his contract.

Man Utd on the other hand were aggressive and secured a deal for Yoro, who has joined the Premier League club for a fee of around £52m.

In response to this “surprising” deal, Romano has “congratulated” Man Utd as they only had a 30-35% chance of signing Yoro before his situation changed dramatically.

“Honestly, yes (it was surprising),” Romano told Caught Offside.

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“Not in the final days, because since that Tuesday when Manchester United were able to agree the fee with Lille, I understood that they were really entering strong in the race and with a good chance to make it happen. Maybe a 30-35%, but still a good chance.

“But before that, absolutely yes. If you asked me in June, in May or in April, the answer was absolutely Real Madrid. And I think if you asked Leny Yoro at that moment of the year, it was Real Madrid, absolutely. He wanted to go to Real Madrid, he agreed everything perfectly with Real Madrid, his project at Real Madrid was ready.

“So it was really surprising. And congratulations to Man United because to enter the race in that way and to be able to close the deal in almost ten days has been really, really fantastic, surprising in a positive way.”

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Romano has also indicated that Real Madrid were punished for their arrogance as there was the feeling that his “dream” was to join them.

“Yoro wanted to fulfil his dream to go to Real Madrid, but then at the end of the day, they didn’t want to pay the same amount of money invested by Manchester United,” Romano added.

“So their strategy to attack on club side before and then try to convince the player was the winning strategy, while Real Madrid were convinced of Leny Yoro waiting for them probably also till next year when his contract was due to expire.

“So, yes, it was surprising, not in the final days, but I would say in terms of general feeling of the transfer window, a really surprising and fantastic signing.”