Leeds United have made a habit out of developing and selling exciting talents in recent years, under Marcelo Bielsa, Jesse Marsch, and, now, Daniel Farke.
The likes of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips were developed by Bielsa before being sold during Marsch’s tenure, whilst Farke had to watch on as a number of his stars were sold in the summer.
Archie Gray, Glen Kamara, Georgino Rutter, and Crysencio Summerville all left in search of top-flight football, as they joined Tottenham, Rennes, Brighton, and West Ham respectively.
The club may have once thought they had another major sale on the cards when French stopper Illan Meslier first rose to prominence in the first-team.
Illan Meslier's first impressions
After keeping an eye-catching seven clean sheets in ten Championship matches during the 2019/20 campaign whilst on loan from Lorient, Leeds swooped to sign the goalkeeper on a permanent deal.
The Whites reportedly splashed out a fee of £5m and Meslier enjoyed a solid season as the number one for Bielsa in the Premier League, saving 73% of the shots on his goal across 35 appearances to help the team to finish inside the top half.
On the Leeds podcast Don’t Go To Bed Just Yet in 2022, Jonny Buchan, journalist Adam Pope, and Kaiser Chief’s Simon Rix agreed that Meslier was the best signing of Victor Orta’s tenure as the sporting director.
Buchan even made a very bold prediction about the goalkeeper’s future. He said: “I think he will go on to be one of the great goalkeepers, I think he will be France’s number one and I think when he is in his mid-thirties we will look back and go ‘wow, remember when he was at Elland Road.'”
Unfortunately, Meslier, as of yet, has not kicked on and lived up to the hype that was generated by his emergence as a star for Bielsa at Elland Road.
First Impressions
What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast's 'First Impressions' series has everything you need.
Where Illan Meslier stands now
In the present day, the 49ers must finally sell the 24-year-old goalkeeper, who has not kicked on as expected and has become a liability at the back for the West Yorkshire outfit.
Two years on from the prediction that Meslier would go down as one of the greats and be a France international, he is currently playing in the second tier of English football and is yet to earn a senior call-up for his country.
Journalist Barry Collins described him as a “liability” in the 2022/23 campaign and that seems fair when you consider that the shot-stopper let in a whopping 12.4 more goals than expected based on the post-shot xG faced in the Premier League.
Appearances
44
18
Save percentage
68%
67%
Goals prevented
-4.49
-0.31
Error directly led to goal
1
1
As you can see in the table above, Meslier has underperformed as a shot-stopper in the Championship, which means that he has not been able to thrive with a step down in quality from the top flight.
Errors like the one he made for the late Sunderland equaliser, shown below, have done little to help the perception that he can be a liability to this Leeds team.
At this moment in time, based on his performances and the statistics behind them, it looks like the 49ers need to ruthlessly cash in on the French dud when the January transfer window opens for business, or next summer.
Meslier has consistently let the team down as a shot-stopper, at Premier League and Championship level, and they – on current evidence – will need a more reliable goalkeeper if they gain promotion back to the top tier.
Leeds must sell Elland Road flop who was "really exciting" under Bielsa
The Leeds United centre-forward should be moved on in the January transfer window.
1 ByDan Emery
