Illan Meslier: Leeds United’s Shot-Stopping Savant

I think he gets a bit of undeserved stick to be fair. A lot of people forget he was only young when we got him in – and on loan as well – August 2019 it was. We were still in the Championship and Kiko Casila was the number one, but his debut came against Arsenal in the FA Cup third round in January.

We lost 1-0, put in a great team performance but Meslier’s was the pick of the bunch. I wondered when we’d next see him in between the sticks and when his league debut came in March, Marcelo Bielsa didn’t look back.

It was good to see Meslier become the number one for the 2020/21 season, but like many Leeds fans was probably a bit nervous. I really wanted us to sign Emiliano Martinez from Arsenal who we were linked with, but he went to Aston Villa. Still only 20 for our first campaign back in the Premier League, it was almost like ‘out of the frying pan, into the fire’ for him at such a young age and untested at the highest level – especially when you considered our first few fixtures.

Premier League Exposure

The opener at Anfield against the champions Liverpool (we lost 4-3) and then our fourth game of the season at home against Manchester City; a 1-1 draw in which Meslier performed very well.

We shipped a few goals during our first season and then that got progressively worse in the two in the top flight that followed. Back in the Championship though, Meslier demonstrated that he has matured significantly but, there is still a mistake in him and, unfortunately, it is often costly.

2024/25 Championship Statistic	Value
Matches Played	39
Minutes Played	3510
Goals Conceded	22
Clean Sheets	21
Saves	65
Save Percentage	0.707
Shots Faced	95
Penalties Faced	4
Penalties Saved	1
Errors Leading to Goal	3
Pass Accuracy	0.769
High Claims	32
Yellow Cards	0
Red Cards	0

For me, he is one of the best goalkeeper’s in terms of potential to develop into a world class number one – his shot stopping and one-on-ones are very good – it’s just his decision-making at times and communication that he needs to polish.

I wouldn’t back against him becoming the number one for the France national team at some point either – he’s definitely on the right track and the more games he experiences at as high a level as possible, the better it will continue to be for him I think.

Being thrown in at the deep end by Bielsa so young, I think should help him and he probably keeps looking back on that whenever he needs a confidence boost – the fact that one of the world’s most respected coaches and managers in the world had such faith in him.