Leeds United have had a busy summer in the transfer market as they look to avoid the pattern of newly promoted teams being relegated from the Premier League.
Daniel Farke’s side have spent over £70 million this summer, but one of their most notable signings was Dominic Calvert-Lewin on a free transfer from Everton.
After completing his transfer, Calvert-Lewin spoke about how Farke convinced him Leeds was the right destination for him: “I also spoke with the manager prior to this and we had a really good conversation, and he was a centre-forward himself. So, he was just explaining how the life of a centre forward is, and he gave me a feeling of a lot of understanding, and it made me really excited to work with him as well.”
Calvert-Lewin has adapted his game as he has got older in a way that he contributes to the team in ways other than goals, and he expressed that he is looking forward to “continuing the things that I am good at but also bringing new aspects and new facets to my game”.
With multiple players through the door, one of the club’s biggest figures in recent years could be on his way out.
Meslier receiving interest from "boyhood club"
Leeds United’s keeper Illan Meslier could be returning to his “boyhood club”, FC Lorient, according to Sky Sports journalist Sacha Tavolieri.
Meslier was born in Lorient and joined their youth team when he was nine years old. He rose through the ranks of the academy and eventually made 30 first-team appearances before being loaned out to Leeds, who subsequently bought him on a permanent transfer.
The French keeper has fallen out of favour at Leeds, and Lorient have now “made contact with #LUFC to inquire about the possible conditions of a transfer”.
The French side have already signed a goalkeeper this summer with Bingourou Kamara on a free. Kamara, alongside 36-year-old Benjamin Leroy, are the club’s only keepers, meaning that they’ll likely have to strengthen their depth in this area again this summer. If the next keeper they sign is Meslier, then he would likely be an immediate starter.
Meslier's Leeds decline
Meslier’s career at Leeds looked likely to be over even before the interest from Lorient. During pre-season, Meslier was starting behind 34-year-old Karl Darlow, and he fell even further down the pecking order when the club signed Lucas Perri.
The signing of a new goalkeeper felt inevitable after last season’s Championship campaign, where Meslier’s performance left a lot to be desired. He underperformed his xG faced by 2.73 goals, putting him in the bottom 20% of goalkeepers despite his team’s promotion.
He was also in the bottom 3% of players for errors that led to a goal, with his mistakes being punished on three separate occasions. Going forward, he wasn’t much better, and his long ball distribution only had a 27.3% success rate, which put him in the worst 15% of goalkeepers.
Perri is not the perfect goalkeeper, but he does improve upon £30,000-a-week Meslier in several key areas. Chief among these is his save rate compared to his xG faced as Perri was expected to concede 48.95 goals but only ended up conceding 44 league goals last season. This means that where Meslier concedes chances that he should be saving, Perri often pulls off unlikely saves.
It seems a near-impossible task for Meslier to re-establish himself as Leeds’ first-choice goalkeeper, so a move to his boyhood club might be the best outcome for all parties.