The 2021/22 season may not go down as a vintage campaign at Leeds United, but it will be remembered as a year where a number of young stars were given a chance.
Indeed, this year we’ve seen the likes of Joe Gelhardt, Cody Drameh and Charlie Cresswell all get first-team chances.
Leeds may have a tough time when it comes to naming their Young Player of the Year at the end of the campaign, but, in our view, there’s surely only one winner.
Of course, we’re talking about Illan Meslier.
While the likes of Gelhardt, Pascal Struijk and Jamie Shackleton have all been rather impressive, there isn’t a young player as important to Leeds as Meslier.
He’s started every single match, and while he’s had to pick the ball out of the back of the net on plenty of occasions this term. He’s single-handedly kept Leeds in a number of games.
It’s incredibly easy to forget that the goalkeeper is just 21 years old, and he’s one of the greatest young stoppers in the game today.
Meslier, of course, also won the award last year, and if he does pick up his second consecutive Young Player of the Year gong, he will be the first player to win back to back editions of this ward since Lewis Cook in 2016.
Cook was one of the brightest young talents we’ve ever seen at Elland Road, but Meslier has the talent and the potential to reach the very top of the footballing world.
2021/22 may well be remembered as a year where a number of young stars break out at Leeds, but even though there are a few teenage sensations staking their claims, Meslier is still the front-runner for the Young Player of the Year award at Elland Road.
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