When Kiko Casilla was suspended for eight games, there was a bit of a worry at Leeds United, especially since they were still pushing for promotion to the Premier League.
However, this was all soon calmed when Illan Meslier, the understudy who’d arrived on loan from Lorient with a view to buy, showed exactly why Marcelo Bielsa’s recruitment team brought him in.
His great performances (he conceded just four goals in 10 games) doesn’t mean he will be the starter in the Premier League, but it was a sign that should anything happen to the former Real Madrid shot stopper once again, Leeds are in safe hands.
Basing his game on Manuel Neuer, as explained by France Football this week in an exposé on the player, Meslier (whom they dub the ‘Prince of Yorkshire’) explained what he’s been working on all season.
He said: “In training, I first work my passing with the centre-backs, then the full-backs, and then the midfielder, but we’re always moving. The aim isn’t to find a player, but a zone where a player needs to be”.
For Christophe Revel, who coached him at Lorient before his move to England, Meslier may have impressed, but there’s still a long way to go.
He said: “Illan, like Neuer, is a fifth defender with his ability to play high and the quality he has with the ball in his feet. He’s a goalkeeper who can read the game very well, who has interesting arm speed, but he remains perfectible at all levels. For me, he’s only at 50-60% of his potential”.
How far can he go? Revel explained: “His exit [from Lorient] was a good solution for everyone because he went to put himself in danger out of his cocoon, where he may not have progressed as much.
“He’s a goalkeeper who has the potential, if he doesn’t burn any steps, to play for the national team and play in big clubs, but it all depends of the politics of his current club: some might think it’s risky to play him in the Premier League, just like some felt it was risky to gamble on him to help Lorient get promoted”.
As for Meslier in all this, he told France Football: “I want to go as high as possible. I don’t want to set myself any limits”.
