Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has backed Leny Yoro after Thierry Henry’s much-criticised punditry on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
Whilst discussing United’s 4-1 loss to Newcastle United, Henry strangely chose to pinpoint Leny Yoro’s reaction of looking at the linesman for Harvey Barnes’ goal.
The Peoples Person has already commented on the unnecessary actions of Henry as Yoro had very little to do with the goal and did what most defenders instinctively do.
The mocking tone of the pundit has irked numerous United fans and Sky Sports have since deleted the clip, probably realising the error of their ways.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Rio Ferdinand Presents, the United legend has defended Yoro and claimed he is learning all the time as a 19 year old centre back.
He admitted that it had been a difficult start to life at Old Trafford for the Frenchman by claiming, “yeah, it was a tough start for him [Yoro] right, but again, he came into a team lacking confidence.”
Ferdinand also highlighted that United is a hard team for young players at the moment due to the lack of quality experienced players in the squad to help guide them.
“Young players need to come into a team if they’re going to do well, with players around them they can look to in moments it’s not going well that they can draw confidence from, that’s why I feel sorry for some of these players that join Man United.”
The Champions League winner also defended Yoro’s attitude by claiming, “he’s a student of the game, he sees his mistakes, he acknowledges his mistakes and he tries to learn from those mistakes.”
He cited the game against Southampton where he struggled against Kamaldeen Sulemana but Ferdinand revealed that he gave him some tips about using his arms in those situations and that he now sees Yoro following his advice.
Ferdinand continued, “little details that I can see now that he’s pushing off people, when he’s running down the channel, rather than just thinking I’m going to win in a footrace. This is a different league, it’s a much more physical league.”
Yoro has also since responded to the criticism and posted a verse from the bible on his Instagram account stating, “don’t worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart.”
Featured image George Wood via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
