Leny Yoro chooses Ivory Coast and deprives Zidane of a promising defender

Leny Yoro will not wear the blue shirt of the French senior national team. At twenty years old, the Manchester United defender has decided to represent Ivory Coast, according to Ivorian journalist Adama Magate (RTI). The news comes two weeks before Zinédine Zidane’s first squad list as head of Les Bleus.

Yoro is not the only absence to regret for the new manager. Ayyoub Bouaddi, his former teammate at LOSC, has also closed the door on France by competing in the 2026 World Cup under the colors of Morocco. The defensive midfielder, recruited for 100 million euros by Manchester City, is now out of reach.

Yet Yoro’s path through French youth teams seemed to trace a natural route to the senior squad. He progressed through the U17, U18, U19 and Under-23 selections, and also participated in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games under Thierry Henry’s direction. As recently as March, he featured in the Under-23 squad for Euro qualifying matches against Iceland.

His move to Manchester United in 2023 did not produce the expected results. The native of Saint-Maurice failed to establish himself as an undisputed starter, particularly after Ruben Amorim was replaced by Michael Carrick on the Manchester bench, even finding himself overtaken by young academy product Ayden Heaven.

By opting for his father’s country of origin, Yoro opens up a busy international calendar: the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, then the 2030 and 2034 World Cups. He will join a particularly strong Ivorian generation that includes leaders such as Guéla Doué, Evan Ndicka, Seko Fofana, Franck Kessié and Ibrahim Sangaré, and young talents such as Christ Inao Oulaï, Yan Diomandé and Amad Diallo.

For Zidane, room for maneuver is shrinking even before his first official squad announcement.