Leny Yoro explains role Man Utd legend played in £52m move

Leny Yoro has admitted that Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand played a big role in convincing him to move to the Premier League.

The 18-year-old made his first appearance in a United shirt on Saturday, featuring in the 2-0 win over Rangers in a pre-season friendly, after turning down the chance to wait a year in order to join Real Madrid.

Now, in his first interview since moving to Old Trafford, Yoro has revealed the conversations he held with Ferdinand - who in 2002 became the most expensive British footballer in history at the time when he joined United and the world's most expensive defender for a second time - that helped convince him that the Premier League was the best place for him to be.

"It was like two weeks ago [when I first spoke to Rio]," Yoro told the club's website. "He called me. First of all, I was really impressed to speak with him and, yeah, we spoke like 10 minutes about Man Utd.

"He helped me a lot to make my choice. 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. For me, it was really good to speak about this."

The interview took a brief pause as Yoro was shown a video of Ferdinand, during which the club legend shared a message of encouragement for the young star.

He said: "You've got all the potential, you've got all the tools, man, you've got everything there, ready to rock and roll to go and make a big impact at this club."

Tune in to 90min's YouTube channel as Scott Saunders gets the expert lowdown on Leny Yoro from French football journalist Quentin Gesp.

Yoro, who was taken aback by the message, continued: "That's crazy. 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."

Ferdinand enjoyed 12 successful years at United, winning the Premier League six times and the Champions League in 2008 to cement his place as one of the club's greatest ever defenders.

Yoro will hope to follow in his footsteps, with United looking to climb back on their perch at the top of English football. The Red Devils haven't won a league title since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013 and recorded their lowest-ever Premier League finish last season when they finished eighth under Erik ten Hag.

The Dutchman, despite that disappointment, has been backed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS following their 27.7% stakeholding was ratified, signing a contract extension to try and build on the FA Cup final win over Manchester City in May.

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