Leny Yoro has revealed the demand Manchester United icon Rio Ferdinand made to him before he decided to join the Red Devils. The £52million signing shared a 10-minute phone conversation with the former defender before putting pen to paper at Old Trafford.
Yoro was picking between United and Real Madrid when he chatted with Ferdinand. He says that the conversation helped him to make a judgement on his future.
However, he also admitted that Ferdinand told him that should he join United from Lille, he would need to “fight” to help the club succeed.
“This is Rio Ferdinand, this is a legend in Man United, so for me this is an honour. This is a big defender, a legend, so yeah, big honour for me,” Yoro said in an interview with MUTV.
“It was like two weeks ago. He called me, so first of all I was really impressed to speak with him and yeah, we spoke [for] 10 minutes about Man Utd, so he helped me a lot to make my choice. So yeah, it was really an honour to speak with him.
“He spoke to me about the club, and [that] this is a historic club with a big story, and if I go there I need to fight for the club, to be ready, because this is the biggest club in the world. So, yeah, for me it was really good to speak about this.”
Yoro believes Ferdinand was once one of the best centre-backs in the world. His own playing style has been compared to the former England international’s dominant performances at the heart of Sir Alex Ferguson’s defence.
“When I was younger, Rio was one of the best defenders in the world. I think everyone watched United when he was young and, for me, it was a dream to play for this club,” the 18-year-old said.
“Only big defenders in this team! Yeah, it’s really crazy that United have big defenders like this. It’s really crazy.”
Yoro became United’s second signing of the summer transfer window, following the arrival of £34m Dutch forward Joshua Zirkzee. Erik ten Hag is set to be backed with further funds to improve his squad over the coming months.
Meanwhile, United have already raised around £35m in fees through the departures of Mason Greenwood to Marseille and Willy Kambwala to Villarreal. It has been widely reported that signing a defensive midfielder is next on United’s agenda, with Manuel Ugarte strongly linked.
