'A legend' - Leny Yoro reveals surprise phone call that helped convince him to join Man United

Former Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand called Leny Yoro to convince the teenager to sign for the club, the teenager has revealed.

United had been courting Yoro since the end of last season and held meetings with the 18-year-old to explain their plans to him, while Erik ten Hag also spoke to the central defender.

Real Madrid had long been expected to complete a deal for Yoro this summer but United's groundwork paid off when they had an offer of £58.9m accepted by Lille, while Ferdinand also turned on the charm offensive.

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Ferdinand called Yoro and sold him on the benefits of a move to United and the defender, who made the Ligue 1 team of the year last season, revealed the conversation with the six-time Premier League winner played a key role in convincing him to join the club.

"This is Rio Ferdinand, this is a legend in Man United, so for me this is an honour. This is a big defender, a legend, so yeah, big honour for me," Yoro said in his first in-depth interview with MUTV.

"It was like two weeks ago. He called me, so first of all I was really impressed to speak with him and yeah, we spoke like 10 minutes about Man United, so he helped me a lot to make my choice. So yeah, 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. So, yeah, for me it was really good to speak about this."

Yoro revealed he had watched Ferdinand playing for United as a child and reflected on