Illan Meslier’s impressive resurgence at Leeds United this season has caught the attention of clubs, with Inter Milan previously linked and now Bayern Munich closely monitoring his performances.
The 23-year-old goalkeeper experienced a mixed spell at Leeds, initially making a significant impact after replacing Kiko Casilla and contributing to their promotion.
However, the subsequent two seasons brought challenges, including relegation, and Meslier spent the final four games of the previous season on the bench. Despite this, Meslier opted to stay, and his current season showcases a return to excellent form, earning praise from manager Daniel Farke.
With just 20 goals conceded in 19 games and six clean sheets, Meslier’s standout performances have drawn interest from top clubs, including Bayern Munich, per sport.fr
At the age of 23, Meslier has amassed an impressive 175 games as a goalkeeper, a remarkable feat in itself. He holds records in the Premier League, notably becoming the youngest goalkeeper to reach 100 appearances in the league.
The Frenchman is quite a rarity because he’s relatively an experienced shot-stopper whilst still being young enough to develop further. We’ve seen his improvements over the years at Elland Road, but if he was to make a move to a big club I think they could further his abilities.
I wasn’t shocked, but was saddened at the criticsm Meslier got last season. The best part of 3 years as the last line of defence behind a creaking backline, and getting constantly peppered with attempts on goal, what exactly did people expect from a 23 year old? His drop in form was inevitable, and amounted to little more than simply not producing the same amount of miracles that he previously had. The sports media, with their sensationalism and hyperbole, were as much the cause of him getting dropped as anything Meslier did himself. I still say he didn’t deserve to be dropped, and certainly not for Robles, who’s performances in the subsequent games weren’t any improvement. I could easily make the argument, that if not for Meslier, Leeds would have been down long before the last 4 games that he missed.
Now, back under a decent manager with a settled backline, he’s playing to the standard expected of someone of his status… quite simply, the best keeper in the Championship bar none, and for me, would be easily able to hold his own at the top end of the Prem. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a keeper of his age, better, or more experienced, anywhere in the world.
I couldn’t agree more Max
He’s already at a big club
sorry but that’s totally glossing over his evident inability to command his box or even leave his goal-line at any given time. His hesitancy and poor catching means he punches all the time. He seems to let shots squeeze through ‘unexpectedly’ and is weak on the near post. This season we’ve faced a series of quite dire opposition so obvs his stats look good. He worries me. Rotherham one shot, one goal. If only he had more mobility, we wouldn’t be so poor at defending corners and crosses.