Leeds United emerged as the favourites to secure a Premier League return last season until the last few weeks when things started to fall apart. The high-profile inclusion of Kiko Casilla did not go well for the Whites as the former Real Madrid custodian’s erroneous display against Derby County knocked them out of the promotion race.
Many expected to see Bailey Peacock-Farrell reclaiming the ‘number 1’ role this season replacing the veteran Spaniard. However, Marcelo Bielsa did the opposite as he not only preferred Casilla between the sticks but also let Peacock-Farrell leave and join Burnley. The club now needed a smart alternative and opted to rope in the highly-rated teenager Illan Meslier on a season-long loan from FC Lorient with an option to make the move permanent by next summer.
An Accidental Goalkeeper:
The 19-year-old has an interesting story on how he became a goalkeeper.
“I was eight, playing a tournament in Hennebont with my old club Merlevenez. We didn’t have a goalkeeper. I was asked to go there and it was only when Lorient picked me up a year later that I thought I couldn’t change positions.”
Meslier told Goal last year while making strides for the Ligue 2 side which eventually saw him grabbing the starting role over Montenegro international Danijel Petković. He kept five consecutive clean sheets to start his senior career and is now relishing the opportunity to make it big in England.
How He Has Settled In New Surroundings
The Les Bleus youth international has been among the substitutes so far and was not even included in the matchday squad against Stoke City last month in their Football League Cup second-round defeat. Kamil Miazek, the other academy prospect, is also knocking the first-team doors, but Meslier has backed his decision to ply his trade to West Yorkshire in a recent interview with Ouest-France (as cited by Leeds Live).
“It’s a legendary club and England is always attractive. Football is a religion here. There are 35,000 supporters in every match, it’s box-to-box, but they play really well. I wanted to move there one day and I found a more interesting project than in Lorient. I went for it,”
The youngster is not in a hurry and content to be the second fiddle for the time being. Miazek, 23, might prefer to settle down elsewhere for minutes in the forthcoming future whereas Casilla, in his thirties, does not hold a long-term future at Elland Road.
The Frenchman, therefore, should cement the starting role in the long run and must keep on developing his game and impressing Bielsa to stake a claim in the gaffer’s immediate plans.
