Leeds United goalkeeper Karl Darlow made his first look of the season within the Premier League on Saturday due to Lucas Perri’s damage.
The Wales worldwide made three saves, together with one spectacular cease from a free-kick, earlier than Gabriel Gudmundsson discovered the highest nook of his personal web within the 94th minute.
Perri’s damage offered the previous Newcastle United stopper with a chance to strut his stuff within the Premier League, but it surely additionally meant that Illan Meslier made the bench for the primary time this season.
Why Illan Meslier is a Leeds outcast this season
The French goalkeeper has performed 214 matches for the West Yorkshire outfit in all competitions, per Transfermarkt, and was the primary choice in objective from the 2020/21 season till he was dropped close to the tip of final time period.
Meslier let in 2.73 extra objectives than anticipated primarily based on the xG of the photographs towards him within the Championship final season. He additionally made three errors that immediately led to objectives for the opposition.
His errors ultimately satisfied Daniel Farke to convey Darlow in because the primary for the final seven video games, which helped the Whites to clinch the title.
Then, this summer time, Leeds determined that Meslier was not adequate to be first or second selection within the Premier League, as evidenced by their transfer to signal Lucas Perri as the brand new primary with Darlow as his back-up.
The French goalkeeper is an outcast within the present squad, solely to be referred to as upon if each Perri and Darlow are unavailable, and that’s due to his poor performances on the pitch final time period.
Leeds have one other star who could also be on his option to turning into the following Meslier in Joel Piroe, who has had a troublesome begin to the Premier League season.
Why Joel Piroe might be the following Illan Meslier for Leeds
The Dutch striker, who signed from Swansea for a price of £10m in the summertime of 2023, was immense for the Whites within the Championship final time period, scoring 19 objectives within the division.
Piroe was the highest scorer within the league, forward of the likes of Borja Sainz and Josh Sargent, and an integral a part of Farke’s crew with the objective menace that he offered within the ultimate third.
Nevertheless, a priority heading into the Premier League season was that the left-footed centre-forward doesn’t have the bodily profile of a typical quantity 9 within the division, as he tends to battle out of possession.
24/25 Championship | Joel Piroe per 90 | Percentile rank vs STs |
|---|---|---|
Dribble success fee | 31.8% | Backside 27% |
Profitable dribbles | 0.41 | Backside 35% |
Fouls gained | 0.44 | Backside 9% |
Duels gained | 2.24 | Backside 3% |
Duel success fee | 26.9% | Backside 10% |
Aerial duels gained | 0.90 | Backside 12% |
Aerial duel success fee | 21.4% | Backside 17% |
Stats through FotMob | ||
As you possibly can see within the desk above, the £40k-per-week striker ranked very poorly amongst his positional friends within the division in a number of bodily and out-of-possession metrics.
Piroe was described as “nameless” by reporter James Marshment again in February, which is what he can, sadly, be when Leeds would not have all of it their very own method with the ball, as they usually won’t within the Premier League.
The Dutch striker gained 9% of his duels and failed to attain a objective or create a ‘massive probability’ for the crew within the first two matches of the Premier League season, per Sofascore, earlier than he was an unused substitute within the 0-0 draw with Newcastle and missed the loss to Fulham by way of damage.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha, who scored the membership’s solely league objective this season towards Everton, had been signed to compete with Piroe for his place up entrance in the summertime switch window.
Subsequently, Piroe could be at risk of turning into the following Meslier to be pushed out of the squad due to his lack of suitability for the Premier League, resulting from his bodily attributes, and the signings which were made in his place.
