The young Leeds United loanee is set for his competitive debut for the club.
Marcelo Bielsa has revealed via The Yorkshire Evening Post that Illan Meslier will make his long-awaited Leeds United debut in Monday’s trip to Arsenal.
Bielsa’s side visit the Emirates in a couple of days in the third round of the FA Cup.
With Leeds protecting a nine-point cushion in the automatic promotion places, the Whites boss has admitted that he will ring the changes.
A number of fringe players will start at the Emirates – including Thorp Arch product Robbie Gotts – but Meslier will be displacing Kiko Casilla in North London.
The French goalkeeper joined Leeds on a season-long loan from Lorient in the summer but hasn’t yet played a senior game for the Championship leaders, though Bielsa admits that he’ll be starting between the sticks against the Premier League outfit.
He said: “Gotts is a player who deserves to play. Meslier has quality that allows him to be responsible in a massive match like this. Meslier is going to play.”
Meslier has had some cracking performances under Carlos Corberan for the Under-23s this season, but a trip to Arsenal is on a different scale entirely.
Mikel Arteta is likely to rest some of his heavy hitters in North London, but the Gunners still have more than enough quality to hurt Leeds and it’s fascinating to see how the 19-year-old performs against it.
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