Tylel Tati: Why Man Utd, PSG and more are circling Nantes' teenage 'monster' dubbed 'the next Leny Yoro'

Tati was born in Champigny-sur-Marne on the outskirts of Paris on January 17, 2008, as the youngest of four children. His father, Sambou 'Bijou' Tati, is a huge figure in the local football scene in his hometown, having been the chairman of amateur club US Roissy-en-Brie for 20 years. Sambou used to dine out on the fact that he had coached Paul Pogba, but he has an even closer connection with the latest prodigy to emerge from the club. 

"As club president and coach, I've seen a lot of players come through," he told Le Parisien. "Today, when I think that it's my son, wow... It warms my heart."

Before joining his father's club, Tati honed his skills in his local town square, pitting himself against the older children. "Everyone wanted to have him on their team, which is no surprise if you know anything about his maturity and his will to win," added Sambou Tati.

Tati spent time at the renowned youth academy of INF Clairefontaine, whose former students include Nicolas Anelka, Louis Saha, Thierry Henry and Kylian Mbappe. He experienced hip problems during his time there as a result of a growth spurt, though he still caught the eye of Nantes, who had been tracking him since he was 11 years old. 

His passing ability and technique stood out to Nantes scout Mohamed Sadaoui, who invited Tati to a youth tournament. His Nantes colleagues were impressed with what they saw, and Tati was subsequently invited to play for them in a friendly. Twenty minutes into the game, a staff member told Sadaoui that he had to go and sign him. 

Nantes were not the only team looking at Tati, who also attracted interest from PSG. But Tati took the mature decision to resist the glamour of Ligue 1's dominant force as he felt he would develop more quickly at Nantes and signed a trainee contract on his 13th birthday.

Tati began playing for Nantes' Under-17s team when he was still 15, and was then promoted to the reserve team at the back end of the 2024-25 season. He helped Nantes reach the final of the U19 Championnat, where they were beaten 2-1 by PSG, though the disappointment of failing to win a youth title did not last long as Tati had still managed to impress the first-team coaches, who invited him to spend pre-season training with them.

Tati stood out in the pre-season campaign and was named in the starting XI for the first Ligue 1 game of the season, at home to PSG. The recently-crowned treble winners won 1-0, but Tati barely put a foot wrong, earning glowing reviews from the local and national press. L'Equipe said the teenager "was never in trouble" as he marked Goncalo Ramos out of the game ashe only time the Portugal forward got ahead of the debutant was when he caught offside.

"He played a very good match, he's calm, focused, and at 17, that's not bad," said coach Luis Castro, who has only not selected Tati this season when he was nursing a minor injury. Tati's 13 starts make him the most-used player under the age of 18 in Europe's top five leagues, while his rise has also led to an embarrassing situation for 31-year-old Serbian defender Uros Radakovic, who was signed in the summer but has played just four games, all as a substitute, due to the teenager's consistent displays.

In October Tati signed his first professional contract, tying him to Nantes until 2028 with the option to extend the agreement until 2030. But it is highly unlikely he will remain there that long. United, Arsenal, Bayern and Barcelona are just some of the clubs that have sent scouts to watch him in action, while PSG are tracking his progress too.

Tati used to be a midfielder, which led to him acquiring an impressive passing range and technique on the ball. He is adept at playing out from the back, while his height gives him a big advantage when it comes to fending off opponents and winning duels. The fact he is naturally left-footed means he is even more valuable as it makes him equipped to playing in a back three, playing as an inverted full-back in a back four or simply as a traditional left-sided centre-back with a licence to push into midfield.

"He is mature and remarkably composed in the face of adversity," Nantes' academy director Samuel Fenillat told newspaper Ouest-France. "He’s an intelligent player with an excellent reading of the game. He’s always aware of his team-mates' movements. He’s a player who listens, who learns quickly."

Nantes' reserve team coach Steephane Ziani, who coached Tati until the end of last season, added: "He's one of those modern defenders; he's tall and fast enough, but he knows his strengths and he's always focused."

Tati has a small problem with discipline, having earned four yellow cards in his 13 games, although that can be put down to having to make more fouls given Nantes' status as one of the weakest teams in the league.

According to Fenillat, Tati "needs to become more dynamic and agile on his feet. He still needs to develop physically, which is normal at his age. It gives him room to grow, and that's a good sign."

It is still very early in his career, but Tati will also want to improve his attacking threat from set pieces if he wants to stand out to English clubs.

Tati's rise to prominence at such a young age is reminiscent of how Yoro quickly became a regular for Lille when he was still 17. Yoro, however, had one season to bed into the first team set up at Les Dogues, while Tati was thrown straight into the deep end by Nantes.

Both players have a lot of grace on the ball despite being tall, although Tati appears to be physically stronger than Yoro. The United centre-back had the advantage of playing for a more competitive team, as Lille finished fifth in Ligue 1 in his first campaign, when he was in and out of the first team, and then climbed into the top four in the second season in which he consolidated his place in the team.

Yoro's exponential rise led to a race between Real Madrid and United for his signature when he was still 18, with the Red Devils eventually deciding to give in to Lille's demands and sign him for £52 million. He has experienced ups and downs with the Red Devils, impressing with his flair going forward, although he still has plenty of work to do to polish his defensive qualities. Tati could learn the lessons of Yoro's travails by staying a little longer with his boyhood club, ensuring that when he makes that big move abroad he is ready for it.

Top of Tati's priorities should be steering Nantes away from relegation trouble as no player with big ambitions will want to be associated with the club dropping out of Ligue 1 for the first time since 2013. But he should resist a January move because he is getting what he needs at his age: regular minutes and, as Ziane puts it, "a coach who trusts him." 

Sambou Tati has said his son "hasn't shown the full extent of his abilities yet; he’s still playing with the handbrake on". Sadaoui, who first spotted the defender when he was 11, is also dreaming big: "Football is unpredictable, but in my opinion, he can go very, very far," he said. "He’s a defensive monster, and he’s really coming into his own."