Michael Carrick has made his assessment perfectly clear on Leny Yoro’s trajectory at Manchester United under his reign at Old Trafford ahead of the Roma match.

Leny Yoro was absent for Manchester United’s 4-1 defeat to Como in the Champions League last month after the 20-year-old Frenchman served a one-match suspension.

Michael Carrick is trying to engineer Leny Yoro’s development, even if he is not in the Man Utd dugout for the long term

Speaking at Monday’s pre-match press conference ahead of Tuesday’s Roma fixture, Michael Carrick waxed lyrical about Leny Yoro’s performances compared with other Manchester United first-team players this season.

“Leny had a tendon issue that comes and goes,” he said at the Carrington training complex, as per BBC Sport.

“He has been managing it and has been fantastic since he has come back — one of our best players. I have been delighted with his performances. He is on a really good pathway.”

Yoro’s management has been clear with his injury issue, with Carrick and his Manchester United coaching staff ensuring that his tendon problem does not become a long-term injury. The United centre-back, who has played at right-back this season, has played in nine of Man Utd’s 13 matches across all competitions in the 2026-27 campaign so far.

Yoro has only missed one match due to suspension, while he was an unused substitute against Hull City, Manchester City and Fulham in the Premier League. Carrick is unwilling to risk Yoro and add further woes to a defensively thin first-team squad.

Further proof is in Yoro’s injury record at Man Utd as well. During Carrick’s time as both interim head coach in the 2025-26 campaign and the permanent United manager, Yoro has only had one Man Utd injury compared with five previous problems at Old Trafford. According to Transfermarkt, Yoro missed only one match under Carrick last season due to a knock, which left him sidelined for two weeks.

Outside of his minor hiccups, including his sending-off in Man Utd’s loss to Atletico Madrid, Yoro has been one of United’s better performers in a turbulent campaign. The United centre-back was trialled at right-back during the pre-season summer tour under one of Carrick’s experiments, which has been carried over to this season.

Yoro has alternated between centre-back and right-back, including playing five times in the latter in the Premier League. The United defender has occupied the right-back role for the last four consecutive Premier League matches.

Yoro played 59 minutes against Tottenham as a full-back, but his last three appearances against Leeds United, Bournemouth and Chelsea have seen him clock up the full 90 minutes on each occasion. The confidence is there for Carrick to see the France international mature into a starting full-back option for United, including being multifunctional by playing in more than one position.

According to Football Insider, Yoro’s attributes stood out in Man Utd’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The outlet reports that the France defender completed 94 per cent of his passes and even produced two chances for his United teammates.

Five of Yoro’s passes were in the final third of United’s encounter with Chelsea and four of his efforts broke the lines. Just as he picked up three tackles, three clearances, a single interception, five recoveries and won three duels on the defensive front, Yoro’s input on the attacking side shows his confidence brimming by offering more overall to a struggling United side.

The data is there to show Yoro’s trajectory is upwards for United, not to mention his France debut under Zinedine Zidane in the October international break, adding more credence to his ongoing development. Yoro is growing into a more ‘complete’ and ‘versatile’ modern defender rather than being reduced to a specialist centre-back role.