It may seem like a lifetime away, but Illan Meslier was once one of the untouchable pieces of Leeds United's future.
In February 2020, 19-year-old Meslier made his league debut for Hull City. Marcelo Bielsa's team won 4-0 that afternoon, with the hulking 6ft 6in Frenchman, on loan from Lorient and only in the team due to an eight-game ban for No.1 Kiko Casilla, keeping seven clean sheets. zero in 10 games. He was the backbone of the title fight as Leeds ended 16 years of pain outside the Premier League.
That summer, Leeds signed him permanently and, at the end of his first season in the top flight, the hype around Meslier linked him to clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham. But Leeds pushed hard and ended up signing a five-year contract, keeping him at Elland Road until 2026.
Five years on from that promising bow, the 24-year-old's form is now the biggest threat to Leeds' immediate future and, in particular, their failure to be promoted this season.
Meslier's errors at Hull on January 4, when Leeds drew 3-3 after being 3-1 up in the 81st minute, were the last straw for many in a long series of costly mistakes. At Sunderland in October, his unfortunate howl in the 97th minute, when the ball sailed wickedly past him, robbed him of victory and left him in tears.
While his teammates were supportive at the time, and coach Daniel Farke did his best to cajole Meslier throughout, that was short-lived. A reverse angle of Hull's second goal earlier this month shows Joe Rodon, Joe Rothwell and Joel Piroe losing patience. Once again, Leeds lost crucial points because of their goalkeeper.
Almost five years ago, Illan Meslier was the teenage sensation impressing at Leeds on loan.
But as Leeds chase promotion in 2025, the goalkeeper looks a notable weak link.
The mistakes made during Leeds' clash with Hull were the latest in a long list of mistakes
Mail Sport reported earlier this month that Leeds would consider selling Meslier this year if the right offer came in, but such a decision in January would be risky given what is at stake in the showdown, even if current sentiment towards him from the fanbase is at an all-time low.
As one Leeds fan told Mail Sport: “It's not divided.” From the pillar to the post, everyone wants Meslier to go.”
But no team has yet inquired about Meslier's asking price, let alone made an offer, so a decision on his future is likely to be made after Leeds' fate is sealed this season.
Ahead of the FA Cup match against Harrogate United last week, Leeds manager Daniel Farke was asked about the situation.
“I have signed a contract for Leeds United and not for a divided Leeds,” he said. It was a response that generated commotion and shame on social networks.
Although No 2 Karl Darlow started in the cup and kept a clean sheet last weekend, Meslier is expected to return between the sticks for Sunday's Championship match against Sheffield Wednesday, with Farke consistently backing him in public. Even if the statistics on Meslier are damning.
In the last five league seasons, the 250 goals Meslier has conceded in 180 league games are the most apart from Luton's Thomas Kaminski.
When it comes to the 69 goalkeepers who have played at least 100 games in England's top four divisions since 2020-21 (Meslier's first full season at Leeds), he ranks 67th in “goals prevented”, a similar statistic to expected goals (xG), but for goalkeepers. According to the statistics gurus, he has conceded 31 more goals than an average goalkeeper would be expected to concede.
Coach Daniel Farke has always supported his player in a context of poor form.
But only Luton's Thomas Kaminski has conceded more league goals in the last five seasons.
By the same metric, he was the Premier League's worst goalkeeper in 2021-22 and the second-worst a year later when Leeds went down.
At Leeds, it is understood that he is a goalkeeper who is everything with confidence but nothing without it.
Like Bielsa, Farke regularly praises his character and personality, while those who regularly see him classify him as a “determined” person, whose attitude to working hard and getting out of difficult situations is “admirable.” Meslier turns to a psychologist, avoids social media, and over the years has developed a callous nature. Simply put, mistakes no longer affect you as much as they used to.
'Skill comes with experience. You won't always continue to make the right decisions. But when you make mistakes, you improve,” he told The Guardian in May. “It's hard for fans to understand that. For goalkeepers, it's years of process. Unfortunately, making mistakes is the best way to learn; The important thing is to understand why you made them.'
The problem for Leeds and Meslier, however, is that such mistakes are all too common, particularly in a division where the margins are so small and the prize of promotion so great. This season he ranks 17th and 18th in the Championship, respectively, in goals prevented and save percentage.
Privately, the belief in Leeds is that Farke's public backing of the goalkeeper is shrewd management of the man, in the hope that he can get the best out of him. Farke called Sunderland's mistake an “unfortunate bounce” to protect him and the manager still trusts him as his number one.
Number 2 Darlow has over 200 appearances in the top two divisions and three caps for Wales, but it doesn't inspire confidence that he has only started one league game for Leeds and that was only when Meslier was suspended for the season. pass.
Although Farke admitted Meslier was not 100 per cent against Hull, he has refused to ever suggest his position is in jeopardy. Not once before the draw at Harrogate did he hint that Darlow had a chance of reclaiming the number one spot. If that's a risk he can take if Meslier's form continues to slip, it's still the hill Farke is willing to die on.
Meslier's mistakes are all too common and have frequently seen his team lose the lead.
Farke praised the 24-year-old's mentality, as former coach Marcelo Bielsa used to do.
Last week, Stuart Dallas, who was at Leeds from 2015 to 2024, did not hold back on LUTV's Matchday Live show when discussing the possibility of bringing in Darlow.
“We're talking about a goalkeeper who has played between 40 and 50 times in the Premier League. It's not like a little kid is coming in. Karl Darlow is a good goalkeeper. If he's going to bring him in, I have no doubts.
'Illan Meslier, he hasn't been very well. “He might need to be taken off the team, in any other area of the field they would take him off the team and tell him to use it as motivation and come back stronger,” Dallas said.
Farke highlights Meslier's 14 clean sheets in his defence, with only Burnley's James Trafford (17) keeping more. But the reality is that Meslier is very well protected because Leeds dominate the games.
They have conceded the fewest opportunities in the Championship and Meslier has faced the fewest shots on goal, only 56 in 26 games.
Compared to immediate promotion contenders Leeds, their save percentage in the Championship this season is 66 per cent compared to Trafford's Michael Cooper (85 per cent) and Sheffield United (79 per cent).
Unless the situation worsens, Leeds are unlikely to look for another goalkeeper this month, but there is a genuine fear that removing him from the line of fire could do more harm than good, especially if Darlow's experiment doesn't work out.
Meslier was there before when Sam Allardyce sacked him in 2023 and his confidence took a hit. The pressure of playing for Leeds and such “emotional” fans as Farke emphasizes is another factor in itself.
Sam Allardyce had little faith in Meslier and abandoned him during his brief stint in 2022
Darlow could come in, but it's not reassuring that Farke doesn't seem keen to play him.
One of the explanations given to Mail Sport was that, given how much Leeds dominate games in the second division, Meslier is trying to play the perfect game and is ruining things he would easily do in training.
Reflecting in May on that period under Allardyce, Meslier said: “I tried to help the team more than I should have. “When you are in this situation you have to understand that you can't do more than your position allows you to do.
'It was a dark moment, it was difficult. But I have learned a lot and I am very grateful because from the first day I felt enormous trust that Daniel has in me. I felt very happy. Now I want to give something back.'
He may have the confidence of his manager, but let's go back to the reactions of Rodon, Rothwell and Piroe in Hull. It doesn't take a genius to understand what Meslier's colleagues think. And they were the only ones caught on camera. Regardless of what fans think, it's a worrying place for a player to be when your teammates don't trust you.
In the last five seasons in major European leagues (including the second division), no goalkeeper has had more stable playing time at the same club than Meslier. Hull's game was his 201st for Leeds. Beyond the mistakes, the lack of clear growth over a five-year period is perhaps a broader concern.
With just three points separating the Championship top four, Farke knows better than most (having won two promotions with Norwich) about the risk involved in sticking with Meslier and how costly it could be.
Another high-profile mistake could turn an already unpleasant situation into a truly toxic one that would be detrimental to anyone associated with Leeds.
The truth is that Meslier is a goalkeeper who has already demonstrated his quality in the Premier League. You only have to look at his man-of-the-match performance at Anfield in 2022, when Leeds beat Liverpool, to see how high the ceiling is for a goalkeeper who many still believe has all the attributes to be the Premier League number one.
It was only last summer that Chelsea were linked with him.
But here and now, this is the goalkeeping conundrum dividing Leeds United and threatening to overshadow a season in which the only acceptable outcome is reaching the Premier League.