"49ers should be snapping hands off" - Leeds United urged to cash in on "replaceable" first-teamer | OneFootball

Illan Meslier is reportedly the subject of interest from French giants Marseille

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Leeds United goalkeeper Illan Meslier has been linked with a move to Marseille, with the Whites demanding a fee of over £20million for the 24-year-old's services.

As first reported by French journalist Santi Aouna, the French side that are soon to be managed by Roberto De Zerbi are keen to bring Meslier back home to his birth country.

And it has been claimed by the Daily Mail that Leeds value Meslier at around the £20 million mark, whilst they need to raise £100m in funds to comply with Profit and Sustainability Rules, with failure to win promotion to the Premier League only making this worse.

Meslier joined Leeds from Lorient in the summer of 2020, and other than a short period where he was dropped in favour of Joel Robles, the Frenchman has been Leeds' first choice goalkeeper throughout.

Despite this, some Leeds fans have never been overly impressed with the 24-year-old, and some would be willing to see him leave this summer if it helped the club's finances.

Leeds United urged to sell Illan Meslier this summer

FLW's Leeds United fan pundit, Kris Smith, believes that Leeds should certainly accept a fee of £20 million for Meslier this summer, and that the club could comfortably replace him for less than that fee.

Speaking to Football League World, Kris said: "For me, I’ve always thought this was the one sale that had to happen this summer because Meslier was an obvious weak point throughout our promotion push in the Championship.

“Yeah, he would make the odd world-class save, and we wouldn’t have got three points away to Leicester without his save but equally, he’d let in some absolutely baffling goals.

"He had a really poor command of his penalty area, which has hampered us from set-pieces, and his distribution is borderline comical at times. “I’d be more than happy to let him leave, and if the £20m fee reports are to be believed, I think the 49ers should be snapping hands off for that much.

"Like most of our squad, Meslier is totally replaceable if we get a big fee, and the important thing with Meslier is that we could easily improve on him if we did sell him, and selling him we’d be able to pocket most of the money as well as improving on him - those opportunities don’t come along that often."

Given Leeds' need to raise funds, coupled with the big fee Marseille are offering, it seems the perfect time to sell Meslier.

The Frenchman is contracted until the summer of 2026, which means if they don't sell him now, they may have to sell him for a cut-price next summer, as he'll only have one year left on his deal after that and Leeds' hand would be forced.

Most Leeds fans would be willing to sell the 24-year-old if it helped the club's finances, and some of the money they bring in for him could subsequently be reinvested on signing a new goalkeeper.

£20million is a lot of money for a player that has split opinion at Elland Road, and it makes sense from both a footballing and business perspective to cash in on Meslier this summer.