Nacho’s departure accelerates the operation, which will take place this summer. The player is willing to leave Madrid and is rejecting ‘lucrative offers’. A hot-button signing.
Leny Yoro is very close to Real Madrid. In just 24 hours, the matter has gone from lukewarm to hot. From desire to necessity. And that’s because everything has changed a lot in four days: Nacho is leaving for Arabia (he will play for Al Qadsiah, coached by Míchel) and Rafa Marín has one foot in Naples (transferred, with a buy-back option). So Ancelotti has gone from managing an overbooking to finding himself with Militao, Rüdiger and Alaba as his only center-backs. And the Austrian is coming off a cruciate ligament rupture. Yoro was profiled for 2025, when his contract expires and he could arrive for free, but events are pushing for this summer. Operation underway. And looking very good.
There are two determining factors: the transfer fee and the player’s willingness. Heads or tails. Because the first is the only problem: Lille are asking for 70 million, an exorbitant amount that sources from the club itself even recognize as excessive. That in their eagerness to go high, they have gone overboard. But sometimes, baskets are made from very far away: PSG have burst onto the scene offering almost 60 million. Luis Campos wants him no matter what. But he has hit a wall: the player is clear that he wants Real Madrid.
Ceiling: €40M
And that is key. In Chamartín they are breathing a sigh of relief. Leny Yoro has received offers from Liverpool, Manchester United and PSG, responding to all of them that he wants to play at the Bernabéu. Blunt, with sincerity. And that puts Lille in a quandary: they will have to accept a lower offer. Because Real Madrid are not at all considering paying those amounts. And they know it. The ceiling is €40 million, with a willingness to reduce that figure to €30-35, introducing the rest in the form of bonuses or the like. It is much less money than PSG are offering, but Yoro’s dream is Madrid and his club… should they respect it?
A Madridista at Wembley
Yoro has never hidden. On the day of the Champions League final, he traveled to Wembley to watch the match. And it didn’t stop there. Because he could have stayed in his box, enjoyed the match, who knows if he crossed paths with someone from the club and went home. Easy. That it was a private night. But the footballer, still owned by Lille, wanted to share a photo on his social networks showing that he was at the stadium. Making it public. Black and white. Never better said.
It is the summary of a footballer who is desperate to play in white and is doing everything possible to play at the Bernabéu. Even if that means rejecting lucrative offers, like PSG’s. The 18-year-old centre-back’s contract expires in 2025 and he has it in his power to reject the renewal and leave for free in a year’s time. That pressure card is pushing Lille to accept an offer, even if it is not the most voluminous one. And it points firmly to Madrid’s. It’s not closed, but it’s on the way. Hot. Madrid hopes to have everything sorted out before the Olympics (as Yoro is on Henry’s pre-list and has a lot of chances). A centre-back for the future, for Ancelotti. A new diamond in the Bernabéu. Leny Yoro is on the horizon.
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