Liverpool transfers: Man Utd €62m Leny Yoro gamble backfires after injury blow

Manchester United may have beaten Liverpool to the signing of Leny Yoro this summer but it looks like they are going to have to do without the defender for some time. 

The Red Devils went all out to bring the 18-year-old centre-back to the club from Ligue 1 side Lille. They spent an initial €62 million on the youngster even though he only had one year left on his contract.

Liverpool deemed the deal to be too expensive hence why they took a step back from the transfer battle.

There were plenty of reports about Liverpool’s interest earlier on in the window but at that time the assumption was that Yoro would go to Real Madrid.

LIVERPOOL ALREADY HAVE DEFENSIVE ADVANTAGE

Some fans were disappointed that Liverpool failed to take full advantage when Real Madrid declined to go for Yoro. He is certainly viewed as a player who is good enough for the present and is expected to be one of the best in the future.

However, Manchester United already have an issue to deal with as Yoro went off injured in his first pre-season game.

The defender only lasted 34 minutes of their 2-1 friendly defeat to Arsenal on Saturday night, which leaves Erik ten Hag in some trouble when it comes to his defence.

Harry Maguire is only just coming back from a big injury layoff whilst Lisandro Martinez is still not back after international duty.

With Yoro possibly missing the rest of the pre-season United could be starting their campaign off with 36-year-old Jonny Evans.

Liverpool centre back picture

Now if you look at Arne Slot’s options then you can understand why the Reds weren’t rushing in with any wild bids to sign Yoro.

Liverpool do have their equivalent to Yoro in Jarell Quansah as he is only 21 years old and broke through last season.

He showed a lot of promise and arguably has the edge over Yoro due to his Premier League experience.

As well as Quansah, Slot has Sepp van den Berg at his disposal after a successful loan spell in the Bundesliga with Mainz.

Then Virgil Van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate are all on their way back with the latter two not getting any minutes at the Euros.

Therefore they should be fresh and ready to start the season without being too rusty.

So already Liverpool have possibly been proven right about their transfer stance surrounding Yoro as they have plenty of options at the back.