Victor Orta has a list of potential goalkeeper targets who could replace Kiko Casilla at Leeds United after the Spaniard joined Elche on loan, according to Leeds Live.
Casilla completed a season-long move to join Fran Escriba’s La Liga outfit on Monday. Los Franjiverdes may later explore a permanent transfer for the 34-year-old, should the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero natives avoid relegation after surviving by two points last term.
The £32,000-per-week shot-stopper struggled to earn minutes between the sticks under Marcelo Bielsa last season. Casilla made just six appearances across all competitions for Leeds, while conceding twice over three Premier League outings.
Orta is now scouting for potential replacements for Casilla at Leeds with several candidates on his shortlist. The Whites Director of Football is determined to acquire another shot-stopper before the start of the season.
Elia Caprile and Dani van den Heuvel are already at Elland Road, but neither has yet made their senior debut. Orta would seemingly prefer to add an experienced option to the Leeds squad, in order for Bielsa to have a capable back-up for his number one, Illan Meslier.
Orta will tell any potential goalkeeper signing that they would be joining Leeds to serve as Meslier’s understudy. The 21-year-old is the undisputed number one in West Yorkshire, and kept 11 clean sheets in his first season of Premier League football last term.
Leeds currently have no plans to sign a replacement to Meslier, with Orta focusing on a new number two. The France U21 international has two years remaining on his £16.5k-p/w deal.
Orta right to focus on new #2 to replace Casilla at Leeds
Orta is certainly right to focus his efforts on signing a new number two to replace Casilla at Leeds. Meslier was one of the standout players of the Elland Road outfit’s first year back in the top-flight last season.
Meslier was superb throughout the campaign, despite never having previously played in the Premier League. It was even more impressive to see the Frenchman thrive as he did given he is just 21, as well.
His composure and reflexes were frequently phenomenal, even when the defence left him exposed. And Meslier should only get better, so rightly deserves to remain the number one. Especially after Leeds rejected interest from Paris Saint-Germain, per The Athletic.
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