Manchester United reportedly knew of a foot injury for Leny Yoro before his big-money transfer this summer. The Red Devils recently fended off Real Madrid to grab the highly-rated defender in a $76 million deal from Lille. Yoro is widely seen as one of the top teenage prospects at the center-back position.

The youngster, however, suffered a fracture of the fifth metatarsal of his left foot in a preseason matchup against Arsenal. It was just Yoro’s second friendly fixture with his new club. He previously made his preseason debut with United a week earlier against Scottish side Rangers.

The unfortunate injury will keep Yoro on the sidelines for around three months. United officials, however, are not expected to rush the youngster back onto the pitch. Because of his age, manager Erik ten Hag was not necessarily depending on the defender to start every Premier League game of the 2024/25 season. This was evident in the club also targeting veteran center-back Matthijs de Ligt.

United supported transfer for Yoro despite scans showing a foot injury

While injuries are mostly an unavailable part of sports, the Red Devils were previously aware that Yoro may have had foot problems. According to The Athletic, the issue surfaced during the player’s medical ahead of his signing. The news outlet reports that scans showed a potential metatarsal injury during the tests.

Despite the issue, United opted to continue with the deal. This decision was apparently due to the youngster’s rising potential. Club brass believes that the 18-year-old Yoro will ultimately become one of the best European players in his position. They also did not want to potentially miss out on signing such young talent to Real Madrid.

The Spanish giants were also previously linked with a move for Yoro as well. The youngster even preferred a move to Madrid. Nevertheless, the LaLiga club could not agree on a suitable fee with Lille for the player. Real was reportedly only willing to offer the French side around half of what United was willing to pay. It remains to be seen if Real was also aware of Yoro’s foot problem.

Ten Hag claims club is “not ready” for the 2024/25 season

Although the Red Devils pushed on with the deal because of the player’s potential, there have to be questions over how they handled his initial playing time. Yoro featured for United just a couple of days after club doctors reviewed the aforementioned scans. His injury against Arsenal then came nine days after the youngster officially signed with the team.

Yoro is also far from United’s only injury issue at the moment. Ramus Hojlund, Luke Shaw, and Tyrell Malacia are all currently on the sidelines as the 2024/25 season is set to start. New signing Joshua Zirkzee is not yet ready to feature for the club as well.

Because of these problems, Ten Hag has claimed that his team is not exactly ready for the season to begin. “The team is not ready, but the league starts – and there are more managers to deal with this problem,” the manager recently told reporters.

“We definitely have this problem but, still, we have some rules, some principles and we have to make a start. We can’t hide ourselves, we can’t run away from it, so we have to deal with it.”

United kicks off the 2024/25 Premier League season with a home matchup against Fulham on Friday afternoon.

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