LENY YORO has broken his silence after coming in for criticism from Thierry Henry during a controversial segment of analysis on Monday Night Football.
Yoro was in Henry’s firing line during the Sky Sports analysis as the Arsenal legend called him out for instinctively looking to the linesman after Harvey Barnes’ second goal in Newcastle’s 4-1 thrashing of United on Sunday.
Henry claimed he’d “never seen that before”, and impersonated the teenager’s glance to the official live in the Sky Sports studio.
A video of the analysis shared on Sky Sports Premier League’s official X account led to widespread criticism of Henry for “nonsense” and “pathetic” analysis.
The video has since been removed by Sky Sports.
And now Man Utd centre-back Yoro has posted on social media himself for the first time since the controversy.
The French teenager took to Instagram to post a photo of himself looking dejected after the defeat to Newcastle alongside a cryptic bible passage.
It read: “Do not be anxious about anything, but always ask God for what you need. And when you pray, ask for it with thanksgiving. Philippians 4:6.”
Man Utd fans leapt to the defence of their £52m summer signing, accusing Henry of “bullying” the 19-year-old.
One wrote: “Dragging a youngster and being performative just because he’s got the taste for being a viral meme now. Pathetic stuff.”
While another added: “I like Henry but this is nonsense. Frozen a clip just to make a cheap joke on a young centre half. If Yoro plays for Fulham or Palace they wouldn’t dream of using this ‘analysis’.”
Ans a third had commented: “Thierry Henry’s criticism of Leny Yoro is completely unwarranted. He’s a teenager learning his craft. This kind of ‘analysis’ is just lazy and unhelpful.”
Henry had taken issue with Yoro’s reaction to the goal during his analysis, saying: “Look at Yoro and what he is asking for. I don’t know why… I don’t know what he is looking at.
“You’re looking at the linesman trying to see if he is going to bail you out… on what I don’t know. I don’t know if he thought there was an offside, I don’t know if he thought that someone – I – we – I don’t know.
“We all know it’s a goal. What are you looking at? I actually don’t know. I’ve never seen that before. We all know it’s a goal.”
Despite the original video being deleted, a still image of Henry replicating Yoro’s glance still remains up on the Sky Sports Premier League X page, alongside the caption: “When you hear someone open a packet of crisps”.
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