Illan Meslier faces question marks over his future at Leeds United and his place in the team. A poor performance at Hull City last weekend meant Leeds dropped two crucial points in the race for automatic promotion. There are calls to drop the Frenchman from the starting eleven and there is an argument for Karl Darlow to replace him in the team. Leeds are also looking at an option to bring in a new goalkeeper and has been linked with a loan move for Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher. However, there is a clear understanding that the Whites need a better goalkeeper than Meslier and a key stat just backs up the claim.
Meslier’s inconsistencies have been more frequent this season and Leeds finally lost precious points at Hull for a couple of glaring errors by the Frenchman.
His mistake led to Leeds allowing Hull to get back into the game and he failed to command the area properly, which led to the Tigers scoring a late equaliser.
There are now serious discussions around Leeds needing a new goalkeeper in the winter window or at least the possibility of Darlow coming in to replace Meslier in the starting eleven for the time being.
The Frenchman has been the undisputed number one for Leeds for close to five years but there is now an increasing feeling that Leeds need to get an upgrade on him if they do not want to squander their promotion chances this season.
A key goalkeeping stat has emerged that shows Meslier is not competing with the best shot-stoppers of the Championship at this stage of the season.
Why Leeds United need an upgrade on Illan Meslier
Illan Meslier has had little competition for his place in the team since he became Leeds’ number one in the second half of the 2019/20 season. Darlow is an experienced goalkeeper but only played in the EFL Cup defeat to Middlesbrough in August this term.
His unchallenged status as Leeds’ first-choice goalkeeper means mistakes have crept into his game and he no longer looks safe and secure between the sticks.
There are now serious issues with his goalkeeping that Leeds cannot continue to ignore as it could cost them promotion to the Premier League this season.
He has kept 14 clean sheets this season in the Championship, which only places him behind Burnley’s James Trafford. However, it seems his success is largely due to the defence he has in front of him.
The more glaring stat about Meslier’s game is his save percentage, which shows how poor he has been between the sticks for the Whites this term.
Trafford again leads the chart with a save percentage of 75 but Meslier is nowhere close to the top goalkeepers in the Championship this season.
The Leeds goalkeeper has only saved 66.1 percent of the shots he has faced, which places him as low as 18th on the list of Championship goalkeepers.
It is an alarming state for the number one goalkeeper of a side that sit at the top of the Championship table and are pushing to get promoted to the Premier League.
Would Daniel Farke want to change his number one in the middle of the season?
The Leeds United boss is known for favouring consistency in selection and is not a big fan of disruptive decisions over the course of a season.
He has so far backed Meslier despite his inconsistencies but the 3-3 draw at Hull could force him to take a drastic call on his goalkeeping option for the rest of the season.
Farke would love to see the Frenchman regain his form and produce his best in the latter half of the season but there is a chance he could further deteriorate.
The Leeds boss will also have to consider whether he can get an upgrade on Meslier this month within the financial parameters of the Yorkshire giants.
Kelleher has emerged as a target but convincing the Liverpool goalkeeper to drop down to the Championship for half a season would be complicated.
Meslier’s future will largely depend on whether Leeds believe they can get a new goalkeeper who will be clearly better than him in the second half of the season.
Farke and the recruitment team will have to make a big call on the goalkeeping front to ensure their promotion hopes remain on track in the coming months.
