Jump to content

Leny Yoro

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by AideDésintéressée (talk | contribs) at 19:52, 17 July 2024. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Leny Yoro
Yoro with Lille in 2023
Personal information
Full name Leny Olivier Yoro
Date of birth (2005-11-13) 13 November 2005 (age 18)
Place of birth Saint-Maurice, France
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Centre-back
Team information
Current team
Lille
Number 15
Youth career
2011–2012 Alfortville
2012–2017 Villeneuve-d'Ascq
2017–2022 Lille
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2022–2023 Lille B 13 (0)
2022– Lille 46 (2)
International career
2021 France U17 1 (0)
2022 France U18 5 (0)
2023– France U19 2 (0)
2023– France U21 4 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:10, 19 May 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:09, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

Leny Olivier Yoro (born 13 November 2005) is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club Lille.

Early life

Leny Yoro was born on 13 November 2005 in Saint-Maurice, France and spent his first years in Alfortville.[1][2] He is of Ivorian descent through his father. At the age of five, he started playing football at Alfortville where he stayed one season before moving with his family in the Lille area. He then pursued his football learning in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, where he grew up, and finally joined Lille's youth system in 2017.[3]

Club career

Lille

2022–23: Debut as a professional

Yoro debuted with Lille reserve team in 2022, and quickly signed his first professional contract with the club on 10 January 2022.[4] He made his professional debut with Lille in a 3–1 Ligue 1 win over Nice on 14 May 2022 in the penultimate match of the season. At 16 years six months and one day of age, Yoro is the second youngest Lille player, behind Joël Depraeter-Henry and taking the second place from Eden Hazard.[5][6] In early August, he extended his contract with his club until June 2025.[7]

Next season, he became a permanent member of the professional squad named to play in the 2022–23 Ligue 1. For his first professional jersey number, he opted for number 15.[8] On 17 September, he played his first professional match as a starter in a 2–1 home win against Toulouse.[6] His then-manager Paulo Fonseca stated: "Leny deserved this start, given the way he worked with the team. He deserved to have an opportunity. He had a good match. [...] Being 16 years old, he gave a solid performance, with a lot of character."[9] He ended the season with 13 Ligue 1 appearances, including 8 starts, and a total of more than 750 minutes played.[10]

2023–24: Breakthrough and first European matches

For his second whole season as professional, Yoro became a full-time starter as a right centre-back and played 32 matches out of 34 Ligue 1 fixtures.[10][11] He was the second most used French championship player with a total of 3690 minutes in all competitions at only 18 years old.[11] On 24 August 2023, Yoro scored his first goal at the club in a 2–1 victory over Rijeka, in the first leg of the 2023–24 Conference League play-off round.[12] A month later, he scored his first Ligue 1 goal for Lille with a cross-shot volley in a 2–2 away draw against Rennes.[13] He scored his first goal before his supporters at Stade Pierre-Mauroy with a header on 12 November 2023 in a 1–1 draw against Toulouse FC.[14]

With 89% of defensive duels won, Leny Yoro is the second defender to win the most duels among all the players playing in Europe this season, across all age groups.[15] According to a study published in October 2023, Yoro was also the best player under 23 in defensive ground duels won.[16] Alongside Virgil van Dijk, he was the only defender across all European leagues to be both a top 10% player in defensive duel success rate and top 10% in aerial duel success rate.[17] In April 2024, he started and played every minute in the UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-finals two legs against Aston Villa in which Lille nearly made it to the semi-finals but lost on penalties. Finishing with his team in 4th place, he contributed to the new European qualification of LOSC which is led to play the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round.[18]

International career

Yoro is a youth international for France, having represented the France U17s.[4] He was called up to the France Olympic football team for the 2024 Summer Olympics but was eventually retained by his club due to the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round played in the summer.[19]

Personal life

After studying within Lille academy, Yoro graduated from high school in management sciences.[20]

Career statistics

As of match played 19 May 2024[21]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Coupe de France Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Lille B 2021–22 Championnat National 3 9 0 9 0
2022–23 Championnat National 3 4 0 4 0
Total 13 0 13 0
Lille 2021–22 Ligue 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2022–23 Ligue 1 13 0 2 0 15 0
2023–24 Ligue 1 32 2 3 0 9[a] 1 44 3
Total 46 2 5 0 9 1 60 3
Career total 59 2 5 0 9 1 73 3

Honours

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Leny Yoro". LOSC (in French). Archived from the original on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  2. ^ Fosseux, Olivier (15 December 2023). "Leny Yoro raconté par sa mère : « Il n'a jamais fait de conneries ! »". La Voix du Nord (in French). Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  3. ^ Bja, Rayan (20 April 2022). "Leny Yoro, la force tranquille qui monte". Le Petit Lillois (in French). Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  4. ^ a b Bja, Rayan (10 January 2022). "Officiel : Premier contrat professionnel pour Leny Yoro". Le Petit Lillois (in French). Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  5. ^ Lemichel, Hugo (15 May 2022). "Nouveau record de précocité au LOSC pour Leny Yoro". Le Petit Lillois (in French). Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  6. ^ a b Lafont, Romain (18 September 2022). "Leny Yoro, plus jeune joueur de Lille à être titulaire depuis Oumar Dieng en 1989". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  7. ^ "Leny Yoro prolonge avec le LOSC jusqu'en 2025 !". LOSC (in French). 2 August 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  8. ^ Lemichel, Hugo (8 August 2022). "Leny Yoro portera le numéro 15 cette saison avec le LOSC". Le Petit Lillois (in French). Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  9. ^ Da Rocha, Joseph (18 September 2022). "Paulo Fonseca après LOSC – Toulouse FC : « Leny Yoro méritait cette titularisation »". Le Petit Lillois (in French). Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  10. ^ a b Leny Yoro at Soccerway. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  11. ^ a b Marcant, Raphaël (27 May 2024). "Leny Yoro (LOSC), 2e joueur le plus utilisé à son poste dans l'Hexagone". Le Petit Lillois (in French). Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  12. ^ Henninot, Julien (25 August 2023). "Ligue Europa Conférence : grâce au premier but d'Yoro en pro, Lille prend l'avantage sur Rijeka". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  13. ^ "Ligue 1 : Rennes arrache le nul contre Lille (2-2) dans un choc avec l'Europe". Le Parisien (in French). 16 September 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  14. ^ Pousset (12 November 2023). "LOSC-TFC (1-1) : pousser n'est pas gagner". LOSC.fr (in French). Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  15. ^ Lécrigny, Gabin (11 October 2023). "Leny Yoro, deuxième meilleur défenseur central d'Europe en termes de duels remportés". Le Petit Lillois (in French). Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  16. ^ Marcant, Raphaël (4 October 2023). "Leny Yoro, maître dans les duels au sol avec le LOSC". Le Petit Lillois (in French). Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  17. ^ Lécrigny, Gabin (6 November 2023). "LOSC : Leny Yoro, seul Virgil Van Dijk l'égale en Europe". Le Petit Lillois (in French). Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  18. ^ Pousset (19 May 2024). "LOSC-Nice (2-2) : L'Europe est au bout du chemin malgré tout". LOSC.fr (in French). Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  19. ^ "JO : LA PRÉ-LISTE ACTUALISÉE" [Olympic Games: The preliminary list updated] (in French). French Football Federation. 11 June 2024.
  20. ^ "Leny Yoro a reçu son baccalauréat". So Foot (in French). 24 April 2024. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  21. ^ Leny Yoro at Soccerway
  22. ^ "Trophées UNFP : sept joueurs du PSG dans l'équipe type de la saison 2023-2024 en Ligue 1". L'Équipe (in French). 13 May 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2024.