Latest news with #CerroPorteno
Toronto Star
22-07-2025
- Sport
- Toronto Star
Vancouver Whitecaps acquire playmaking midfielder Kenji Cabrera from Peruvian club
Kenji Cabrera of Peru's Melgar, top, and Victor Velazquez of Paraguay's Cerro Porteno battle for the ball during a Copa Libertadores soccer match at Nueva Olla stadium in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Jorge Saenz MM flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: : sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications/toronto_star bHasMigratedAvatar : false :
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Official: Man United confirm squad number for new signing Diego Leon
Manchester United have unveiled the kit number for new signing Diego Leon. Leon officially signs for United United officially announced Leon's arrival earlier this month from Paraguayan outfit Cerro Porteno. He made 37 senior appearances for the club. The Red Devils actually struck an agreement with Corre Porteno in January at around the £3.3 million mark. Both parties then reached a consensus that Leon would seal his switch to Old Trafford during the summer transfer window. He has since been training with the first team as he looks to impress Ruben Amorim and his coaching staff and convince them that he should be a mainstay in the senior squad. Noises coming out of Carrington are that Leon has done well in pre-season training, showing why the Red Devils swooped in for him. A recent report covered by The Peoples Person relayed that United have no plans of sending the 18-year-old out on loan. He will remain at Old Trafford and either be part of the first team or line up for the Under-21s and continue his development. United confirm Leon's squad number United have announced that Leon will wear the number 30 shirt heading into the 2025/26 campaign. The full-back wore the number 37 at Cerro Porteno and number 4 for the Paraguay Under-20 team. The club note about Leon, 'The 18-year-old has trained with the senior squad and is settling into his new environment well.' The number 30 shirt at United has previously been donned by the likes of John O'Shea and Guillermo Varela. Its most recent owner was goalkeeper Nathan Bishop, who departed Old Trafford in August 2023 to join Sunderland. United fans may get the chance to see Leon in action on Saturday when Ruben Amorim and his players take on Leeds United in a pre-season friendly in Sweden. Featured image Alex Livesey via Getty Images Follow us on Bluesky: @
Daily Mirror
18-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Man Utd new signing could force summer transfer after firing clear warning at team-mates
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim is assessing his players in pre-season and has decisions to make at left-back, where he has four players competing for a place Manchester United are considering whether to loan out academy graduate Harry Amass after Diego Leon's arrival in the summer transfer window. Having agreed to sign back in January, Leon has now joined the United squad and is trying to impress Ruben Amorim. The 18-year-old left-back signed for United in the January transfer window but due to his age, was unable to join his new club until the summer. Leon has already racked up 33 appearances in Paraguay with Cerro Porteno and is certainly not lacking in confidence. Speaking at Asuncion's Silvio Pettirossi International Airport, he outlined his plans. 'I'm really happy, I think every player dreams of this,' he told Paraguayan press. 'When you're a professional, you have to adapt quickly, it is a massive opportunity. Everyone thinks I'll go out on loan, but I don't have that mindset. I'm going to kill it in pre-season and within one or two games, I'll already be playing with them.' Having made it clear that he wants to compete for a place in the first team, Leon is now trying to catch Amorim's eye in pre-season. He is up against Patrick Dorgu, Luke Shaw and Amass in Amorim's squad, a situation that appears to require some attention, especially if the rumours of interest in Brighton left-back Pervis Estupinian come to fruition. Amass made four starts under Amorim at the end of last season and held his own, yet he could be the one who departs, with Leon needing time to acclimatise. The Athletic reports that Amass could be sent out on loan, despite showing promise last season, with United keen to clear pathways from the academy to the first team. The club are reportedly consulting the representatives of their academy players in order to determine which players can be moved on. They are said to be willing to take low fees, or none, with add-ons attached, in order to clear the decks. It means the likes of Dan Gore, Ethan Wheatley, Tyler Fredricson and Toby Collyer could leave Old Trafford this summer, be it on loan or a permanent move. Gore is wanted by Rotherham on loan, while the others have decisions to make regarding their future, with regular game time at United unlikely this coming season. United begin their pre-season against Leeds in Stockholm this weekend before the squad travels to the USA, where they will take part in the Premier League Summer Series. They will face West Ham in New Jersey on July 27, before games against Bournemouth and Everton in Chicago and Atlanta before heading back to the UK. Amorim's side play Fiorentina at Old Trafford in their final pre-season game on August 9, before starting their Premier League campaign against Arsenal on August 17.
BBC News
08-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
New signing Leon 'one for the long haul'
South American football expert Tim Vickery believes new Manchester United signing Diego Leon is one for the future and not someone who will make an instant impact at Old completed the signing of the 18-year-old left-back from Cerro Porteno on Saturday after a pre-agreement was reached in January. He has played 33 senior games and scored four Vickery feels a lot of patience will need to be shown to the Paraguayan because he must make a lot of improvements defensively. "There isn't a great deal behind him yet - he's one for the long term," Vickery told BBC Radio Manchester. "He's a strapping figure but happier as an attacking left-back, so in United's system he's much more a wing-back than a member of the back three."He's not yet someone who his club sees as a decisive player in Paraguayan league football - so I suspect United fans will have to be with this one for the long haul. "They have to bring him along carefully, there'll be a lot of work. He'll need some flogging on the training ground, especially the defensive side of things, and it is unlikely he is going to make an immediate impact."He is much more potential than he is reality. I like his physicality, his left foot and the fact he can go outside and cross, but he can also get in the penalty area on the diagonal and there is a goal in him."Listen to the full chat on BBC Sounds
Daily Mail
06-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Diego Leon, 18, is the youngest of nine children who grew up playing football with 'a piece of cloth' in rural Paraguay... now the £7m wonderkid is seen as a vital cog in Manchester United's future
Manchester United 's search to bolster their options at left back has taken them to Paraguay and, more specifically, to Cerro Porteno. Highly rated young left-back Diego Leon has signed for Manchester United in a deal worth £7million, making him the club's second summer addition after Matheus Cunha. The 18-year-old has broken into Cerro Porteno's first team in Paraguay's Primera Division, making 21 appearances and scoring two goals, which caught the eye of scouts from Arsenal and Manchester City earlier this year. The youngster represents a long-term investment for the Red Devils, who will now consider whether his future will involve a short-term loan to aid his development. But who is Leon and what could he offer United in the future? Mail Sport takes a closer look at the Paraguayan teenager that Manchester United have snatched away from their top-flight rivals Manchester United have confirmed the signing of 18-year-old South American Diego Leon WHO IS HE? Leon's story is an inspirational one, a tale of a youngster in relative obscurity that made it to the big time as the youngest of seven sisters and one brother. 'Many times we didn't have the money to buy him a ball and he would grab a piece of cloth, roll it up and play,' his mother Brigida Blance once said. '"Someday I'm going to play at Cerro" he always told me, and now he's keeping his promise,' she added. Originally from Yguazu, in the Alto Paraná region around 300km from the capital, León has had to fight and scrap to get his chance at Cerro Porteño, who he joined when he was 10. Slowly but surely he rose up through the youth teams, leaving coaches blown away with every passing season as he began to shine brighter than his peers. He is also a player that can say what few others can say: that he won Player of the Month without actually playing in that month. Let us explain. The Paraguayan Football Association (APF) chose Leon as the best player in the month of July. The only problem with that choice was that his official debut with Cerro Porteno didn't take place until August 1, when he made his first appearance in the Clausura Tournament first-round against Sportivo Ameliano. It was due to take place in July, save for a postponement due to a fixture clash for Cerro Porteno, and given he played so well, the Paraguayan FA awarded him July's Player of the Month anyway. Leon is not the finished article but he is humble and getting better since making his fairytale league debut when he scored the winning goal against Sportivo Ameliano. Adored by senior management and supporters, Cerro Porteno marked his ascension to the first team with an heartwarming video that showed his career to that point, from his first steps in the academy to his first team bow. 'I have been preparing for this opportunity for four years, and you have to take advantage of it when it comes,' Leon said recently. 'Now I am thinking about everything that happened this season. The night before my debut I couldn't sleep because of the excitement!' Speaking to Tigo Sports specifically about his debut he added: 'It is what every kid dreams of. 'I invite them to dream. I am a dreamer, but I had the support of my family and thanks to the manager (Manolo Jimenez) who gave me the opportunity and I took advantage of it.' Now his story is set to write it's most intriguing chapter yet. WHAT IS HIS SKILL-SET? Scouts have purred over the 18-year-old's potential in recent months with Leon a quick, tall, athletic and technically good on the ball full-back. In August, the CIES Football Observatory ranked him as one of the top five U18 players in the world. Leon scored 72.8 points as part of CIES' breakdown, which didn't include Barcelona superstar Lamine Yamal. Taking Yamal out of the equation, first place went to Ecuadorian Kendry Paez of Independiente del Valle (83.8 points), while Estevao William of Palmeiras (79.2 points) and Argentine Franco Mastantuono of River Plate (78.4 points) finished second and third respectively. In fourth place - fifth place if Yamal is taken into account - was Leon. 'Paraguay have recently developed some really good left-backs, so this would be another one to be part of the mix if he were to ever get called up to the national team,' Paraguayan football expert Roberto Rojas said at the time, as per Transfermarkt. 'The links to European football have shown that León is a different case, especially at such a young age. It remains to be seen what his ceiling will be, but from the start, it shows he has something that can be very important in the future. 'Like any 17-year-old with little experience playing professionally, León is still raw and has a lot he can improve on before making a big jump outside the country.' His athleticism is a huge appealing factor to United with the necessity to unearth gems outside of traditional big European markets. Energy and athleticism are going to be crucial in the longer term for United to maximise potential in Ruben Amorim's 3-4-3 system which, as so often is the case, is so dependent on the output of its wing-backs. His positional play still needs fine-tuning while his tactical discipline has been highlighted as an area of improvement but that is only natural at just 18. It should also be stressed that while Julio Enciso and Enso Gonzalez have made seamless transitions from the Paraguayan Primera Division to the Premier League at a young age, Leon is seen as one for the future at United rather than a youngster under immediate pressure to hit the ground running. WHAT COULD IT MEAN FOR HARRY AMASS? Optically, signing a player the same age as you and in the same position is not a great sign. So it is only natural that questions are being asked about what the future holds for United's current star academy left back, Harry Amass. The former Watford full-back has three years left on the professional deal he signed at United and he remains very highly rated by academy staff, breaking into the first team under Amorim. Amass made his first senior start for the club against Newcastle in the Premier League in April, and made five appearances in England's top division during the 2024-25 campaign.
