{"id":616448,"date":"2022-08-17T17:04:32","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T21:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=616448"},"modified":"2022-08-17T17:04:32","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T21:04:32","slug":"fabrizio-romano-manchester-united-illan-meslier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/08\/17\/fabrizio-romano-manchester-united-illan-meslier\/","title":{"rendered":"Fabrizio Romano: Manchester United Target Identified As \u2018Untouchable&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Illan Meslier is likely to continue his tenure as number one at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/08\/13\/leeds-united-starting-lineup-southampton-130822\/\" target=\"_self\">Leeds United<\/a> despite <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/08\/16\/manchester-united-casemiro-live-talks\/\" target=\"_self\">Manchester United<\/a>&#8216;s interest in the player. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1559910166543441920\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fabrizio Romano<\/a>, the Whites have &#8220;no intention to negotiate&#8221; over the Frenchman, who is a key part of the Elland Road project.<\/p>\n<h2>Illan Meslier is &#8216;Untouchable&#8217;<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Leeds have no intention to negotiate with Man United for Illan Meslier. The French goalkeeper is now considered \u2018untouchable\u2019 and key part of the project. \ud83d\udea8\u26aa\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LUFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#LUFC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Man Utd are working to sign a new GK with Sommer in the list, but also tempted by Gladbach new deal bid. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MUFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#MUFC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pwYpmA8yIi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/pwYpmA8yIi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1559910166543441920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 17, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Why is He So Important to Leeds United?<\/h3>\n<p>The French goalkeeper is one of the cornerstones of Jesse Marsch&#8217;s side, and arguably the first name on the team sheet. Despite the goalkeeper&#8217;s youth, the player is in the top 50 goalkeepers in Premier League history for saves made. His long limbs and incredible agility make him an ideal shot-stopper for the Yorkshire club.<\/p>\n<p>The Peacocks&#8217; starting goalkeeper is also essential thanks to a relative lack of depth. Previously, Marcelo Bielsa&#8217;s preference for a young squad meant that the 22-year-old was the oldest goalkeeper the Thorp Arch outfit had. Despite the recent purchase of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/08\/09\/joel-robles-leeds-united\/\" target=\"_self\">Joel Robles<\/a>, Leeds United remain relatively thin in that position.<\/p>\n<h3>Why are Manchester United Interested?<\/h3>\n<p>The young Frenchman is ideal for Erik ten Hag&#8217;s footballing style. He passes the ball incredibly well and is good under pressure. David de Gea, the Red Devils&#8217; current keeper, is relatively weak in these areas. Acquiring Meslier provides the Dutchman with an option that better suits his tactical style.<\/p>\n<p>Importantly, the France U21 international has youth on his side. The Old Trafford hierarchy needs a project. A long-term transformation requires long-term options. The youth Meslier brings is an ideal foundation going through vast changes.<\/p>\n<h3>What Are the Alternatives to Illan Meslier?<\/h3>\n<p>One interesting prospect for Manchester United is <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1559860727523037184\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yan Sommer<\/a>. The player is currently weighing up a contract offer from Borussia Monchengladbach. The Swiss goalkeeper is an older option than Meslier and indicates that the club could consider him as a short-term backup for David de Gea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Illan Meslier is likely to continue his tenure as number one at Leeds United despite Manchester United&#8216;s interest in the player. According to Fabrizio Romano, the Whites have &#8220;no intention to negotiate&#8221; over the Frenchman, who is a key part of the Elland Road project. Illan Meslier is &#8216;Untouchable&#8217; Leeds have no intention to negotiate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4248,"featured_media":616467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,2,6443,3,7188],"tags":[5715,9389,7380],"class_list":["post-616448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-featured","category-leeds-united","category-premier-league","category-rumours","tag-illan-meslier","tag-leeds-united-transfer-rumours","tag-manchester-united-transfer-rumours"],"modified_by":"Dale Ventham, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}