Manchester United defender Harry Maguire believes teammate Leny Yoro has what it takes to reach the very top.

The Frenchman, 19, joined United from Lille in last summer's transfer window for an initial fee of £52.2million. He had attracted plenty of attention amid his performances in France and was on Real Madrid's radar.

Yoro has had to wait to make his mark at Old Trafford after fracturing his metatarsal during United's opening game of their pre-season tour of the United States back in July. He did not make his competitive debut for the club until December.

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Since making his bow as a substitute against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, Yoro has made 13 appearances across all competitions, including six starts. Despite not yet hitting top gear, Maguire has been very impressed by what he has seen of the youngster.

Maguire told Inside United magazine: "Obviously, Leny's a young boy with all the attributes to go on to be an elite centre-back. He has everything that you want in a modern-day centre-back at the moment.

"He needs guiding through. Obviously, this is a tough, tough period for the club. But it would be a great learning curve for him and he'll learn a lot from it. And I have no doubts he's going to go on and have a great career for this club."

United also strengthened their centre-back options last summer with the signing of Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich. His performances have steadily improved in recent months and Maguire has detailed two key traits he has added to the squad.

"Matta [Matthijs de Ligt] has obviously come in and looked really solid and he's a good player," Maguire added. "He's been at numerous big clubs, so he probably knows a lot more about the pressures and the privileges of playing for these type of clubs. He brings great experience and great leadership as well.

"So [they are] two great players to have around the place. Like I said, at the moment, it's a tough period for us on the pitch, but I'm sure there'll be many times where they're both playing and the club have turned things around and they're winning a lot more football matches."