Leny Yoro has explained a key difference that has arisen following Manchester United’s first training session in the United States.
Manchester United have arrived in the United States for the next stage of their pre-season tour, as Rúben Amorim continues building towards his first full season as head coach.
Their opening friendly finished 0-0 against Leeds United in Stockholm, though standout displays from Leny Yoro, Kobbie Mainoo, and new signing Matheus Cunha provided plenty of encouragement.
Up next is a clash with Graham Potter’s West Ham in New Jersey, part of the Premier League Summer Series, which also features Everton and Bournemouth.
United will be based in Chicago for the duration of their 10-day stay, during which they’ll take on the other three sides before returning to Old Trafford to face David de Gea’s Fiorentina in their final warm-up ahead of the new campaign.
Yoro has noticed a major difference in training
Following the club’s first full training session at Chicago Fire’s training facilities, 19-year-old Yoro was asked how the first training session felt, considering the heat.
The Frenchman responded by explaining that the squad are well aware that they need to introduce a new training mentality this season compared to last, and that it was a very “intense” session.
“Like the coach said, we need to change our mentality in training. We need to be more… We need to train more harder.”
After a brief interruption from captain Bruno Fernandes, Yoro continued: “I think you’re going to see on the image [training video] that today was intense.”
Amorim’s groundwork starts in pre-season
When Amorim joined the club in November 2024, he made it immediately clear that he would not be able to fix many off the issues currently facing United until the season was over and he had time with his squad in the summer.
He was right. United continued to exhibit many of the same mental patterns, only being able to kick into gear once they were one or two goals down. If they did manage to take the lead, they too often looked frightened of holding onto it.
However, in pre-season, as mentioned by Yoro, the squad have the chance to completely change their mentality, both in training and on the pitch.
United will play a further three Premier League sides in the US across the next two weeks following their draw with Leeds, allowing the club to test and trial what they have been working on in training.
They will then be able to showcase their efforts at Old Trafford against Fiorentina before proving whether or not the hard work has paid off when they welcome Arsenal to Manchester on the opening weekend of the league season.
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