Illan Meslier speaks out about Sam Allardyce at Leeds United after ‘unjust’ decision
Illan Meslier has refused to comment on Sam Allardyce but claims he believed the former Leeds United manager’s decision to drop him last season was “unjust”.
Allardyce took over from Javi Gracia towards the end of last season in Leeds’ last-ditch attempt to stay in the Premier League, but took just one point from four games as the Whites were relegated.
Meslier was dropped under ‘Big Sam’ in favour of Joel Robles between the sticks, and the Frenchman was not keen to elaborate on the former England manager, who had expressed an openness to return to Elland Road in a different capacity in the future.
As quoted by The Athletic [24 May], Meslier said on his omission: “In the moment, I would have said it was unjust.
“It’s never easy to deal with this situation. But with a step back, a couple of months and now almost one year later, I was very exposed in this period. I think I wanted to help more than I should, you know?
“I’ll say that my confidence went down a little bit, but I can’t answer to say if it was fair or if it wasn’t. It’s the decision of the manager. If it was with Javi (Gracia), I could understand it. With Sam, I have no comment on this guy.”
Illan Meslier – a young man of experience at Leeds United
For a goalkeeper born in 2000, over 200 career games is a superb feat – and 164 of Meslier’s so far have been in a Leeds United shirt.
The Frenchman is undoubtedly one of the prime assets at Elland Road – so much so that other goalkeeping targets have been unsure about the prospect of regular game time and opted elsewhere, like Stoke City’s new recruit Viktor Johansson.
With the joint-highest clean sheet record of the Championship’s stoppers this term, Meslier is a man Leeds must keep hold of, with replacing him likely to be a costly task if he did move on.
Retaining Meslier – alongside other members of their star-studded squad for this level such as Crysencio Summerville, Wilfried Gnonto and Georginio Rutter – will of course become a fair sight easier should they overcome Southampton in the all-important Wembley showdown on Sunday.
Daniel Farke has full faith in Meslier, and the summer will tell if the 24-year-old reciprocates that faith back to Leeds for the long haul.
In other Leeds news, it’s time for Gnonto to show the Italian national team what they’re missing.
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