Manchester United were left unable to keep Leny Yoro’s injury a secret after footage of him using crutches was splashed across social media.
The 18-year-old has endured a nightmare start to life with United following his £52.5million move from Lille last month. The new signing suffered a fractured metatarsal in a pre-season friendly against Arsenal and has since undergone surgery.
Yoro, 18, lasted just 35 minutes against Mikel Arteta’s side, and despite United’s best efforts to keep the Frenchman’s injury under wraps ahead of the new campaign, they were undone by the power of social media.
A video of the youngster on crutches at United’s team hotel after the Arsenal friendly was posted online which confirmed the worst fears of the club’s supporters and forced the club into speaking out, The Athletic reports.
It shows how much they value Yoro’s importance to the team, and how they didn’t want the crushing news to spread before taking on Manchester City in the Community Shield this Saturday and then getting their Premier League campaign underway against Fulham next Friday.
The damning footage of a limping Yoro wearing a protective boot forced the club to disclose further detail on the injury he suffered alongside Rasmus Hojlund, who also went down in the game against Arsenal with a hamstring issue.
Leny Yoro was spotted on crutches out in the US
United confirmed Yoro’s successful surgery on Monday (August 5) in a statement that read: “Leny Yoro has today had a successful surgery on his foot injury. Yoro’s rehabilitation starts now and we look forward to the 18-year-old returning to fitness in around three months.”
According to The Athletic, there was also an ulterior motive for the club wanting to keep Yoro’s injury secret. That’s due to ongoing negotiations for other targets, including the Bayern Munich duo for Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui. United’s bargaining power would be lessened with clubs realising the injury to their new centre back, as they’ll be more desperate to fill the void.
On top of Yoro and Hojlund, United’s injury woes continued when Aaron Wan‑Bissaka, Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans were all forced off in their 3-0 defeat to Liverpool last week. With just over a week to go until United’s season opener against Fulham, Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag retained a positive attitude despite the recent injuries to his players.
The Frenchman was forced off after 35 minutes in Man United’s pre-season friendly against Arsenal (
“That’s part of football, that’s part of top football especially, that you come into, you go to the edge, every player has to go to the edge,” the Dutchman said.
“And yeah, then injuries are not avoidable. But of course, we have to be ready as a club and as a team to cover this and the players are dealing very well with this setback. They (Yoro and Rasmus Hojlund) are very positive, they are already recovering and they will return.”
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