VIDEO: Heartbreak for Rio Ferdinand! Leny Yoro picks Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos over ex-Man Utd centre-back & reveals his admiration for Barcelona star Pedri

In a new video for Fan Zone, Leny Yoro was tasked with a bracket challenge to determine the greatest defender from a curated list of footballing icons. The 19-year-old began the quarter-finals by selecting Sergio Ramos over Gerard Pique and choosing Italian maestro Paolo Maldini over Fabio Cannavaro. On the Premier League side of the draw, he showed loyalty to his current employers by picking Rio Ferdinand over Chelsea legend John Terry and preferring Nemanja Vidic to Manchester City icon Vincent Kompany.

The semi-finals threw up some difficult decisions. Ramos advanced past Maldini, setting up a final against the winner of the "battle of Old Trafford" between Ferdinand and Vidic. Yoro selected Ferdinand to reach the final, but when faced with the ultimate choice between the Englishman and Ramos, Yoro admitted it was "tough". After a moment of hesitation, he eventually declared "Ramos" as the winner, leaving Ferdinand as the runner-up.

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Despite the final decision, Yoro offered insight into how he views his own game during the challenge. When forced to choose between the legendary United partnership of Ferdinand and Vidic in the semi-final, he sided with the Englishman for a specific reason. "My style is more like Ferdinand, so I'm going to say Ferdinand," Yoro explained to the host.

While Yoro clearly holds Ferdinand in high regard, placing him in his top two defenders of all time, the allure of the Spaniard's trophy-laden career proved too strong to ignore. Ferdinand may have won the battle for Yoro's signature, but he has lost the battle for his GOAT status.

The final result serves as a slightly ironic twist given the context of Yoro's arrival at United. It is well-documented that Ferdinand played a significant role in convincing the teenager to move to Old Trafford last summer, acting as a mentor and selling the project to him when Real Madrid - where Ramos cemented his legacy - were also heavily interested.

"He called me. First of all, I was really impressed to speak with him and, yeah, we spoke like 10 minutes about Man United," Yoro said when he joined the club.

"He helped me a lot to make my choice. It was really an honour to speak with him. He spoke to me about the club, and that this is a historic club with a big story, and if I go there I need to fight for the club, to be ready, because this is the biggest club in the world. For me, it was really good to speak about this."

Yoro also revealed his admiration for Barcelona and Spain midfielder Pedri. He was asked to rank five top players including himself, Jude Bellingham, Pau Cubarsi and Trent Alexander-Arnold.