Does Master Yi NEED a mana gate?

Is there any particular reason that Master Yi needs to be gated behind mana?

He is the only 'melee carry' that is gated by mana, which, while it makes him unique relative to the others, ultimately seems unnecessary.

I feel giving him a mana gate is unnecessary because of the following:

1. His basic cooldowns are VERY long, especially early game, which by itself is a huge power gate.
2. Yi requires lots of items in addition to takedowns for him to access his abilities frequently, which gates him behind farm and risk-playing.
3. Wuju Style, arguably his highest-damage cooldown, already costs no mana anyway. Why gate everything else, but not the true-damage steroid?
4. Come late game, his cooldowns become so cheap of mana that it seems redundant that there be any mana cost at all. He's not going to go out of mana in the middle of a teamfight late into the game, not without some significantly specific situation.

The only thing the mana gate seems to do to Master Yi is make his early game impossible outside of the jungle (b/c blue buff). Would Master Yi somehow become far too overpowered if he had his mana gate removed? If so, why? Again, his cooldowns are really long, weak without items, and inaccessible without interacting with opponents, so the additional mana gate seems redundant to me. He already is gated heavily by mechanics other than mana.

But, I feel that, if his mana gate were removed, he would potentially become viable in lane. If his early game cooldowns didn't cost 1/3 of his entire mana pool, he actually might be able to trade and sustain himself early in a lane, without being overpowered because of the other gates his power is locked behind. And let's not forget he has clear strengths and weaknesses against certain match-ups; he would not automatically be godlike if he could go to lane.

So, is there any particular reason that Master Yi needs to be gated by mana? Would he be overpowered without it, for some reason? Am I missing something? Or am I not crazy to suggest that it's unnecessary that he have a mana gate?