Manchester United make opening bid for €60m Real Madrid transfer target

Manchester United have reportedly made an opening transfer bid for Lille centre-back Leny Yoro, who is also a target for Real Madrid this summer.

It seems Real Madrid have yet to open any negotiations or make any concrete moves for Yoro, despite him being on their radar for some time, and Man Utd may now be trying to steal a march on their rivals by making a bid to Lille, according to Marca.

Yoro is widely regarded as one of the most talented young players in world football and surely has a big future in the game, with the Red Devils also definitely in need of injecting some top young talent into their back line at the moment.

United have ageing players like Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans in that position, while Raphael Varane has just left the club at the end of his contract.

Yoro could therefore be ideal as the long-term defensive partner to Lisandro Martinez, whom United will hope can stay injury-free next year after a difficult 2023/24 campaign.

Yoro transfer: What next for the Man Utd and Real Madrid target?

Matteo Moretto has previously told CaughtOffside, for his column for the Daily Briefing: “There’s Paris Saint-Germain and Premier League clubs interested that Real Madrid have as competition, and they don’t want to spend big money on Leny Yoro. At a ‘reasonable’ price they’d be happy to do business, but the truth is that Real Madrid likely to offer less than €40m for Yoro.

“No doubt Lille are asking a lot (€60m, as per multiple reports from others), but the economic side of the deal remains important for Real Madrid. They are not going to throw money out the window for a boy that, as brilliant as he is, and even if Real Madrid are his priority, is out of contract in 2025. So it could be tricky.”

Could it be that Real’s reluctance to pay big money for Yoro will now play to United’s advantage?