Phil Hay says Leeds expected 23-year-old to leave this summer, Celta Vigo were interested

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Leeds United had expected Illan Meslier to leave this summer following the club’s relegation.

That is according to Phil Hay of the Athletic, who also reported that Celta Vigo had been interested in the 23-year-old, though a concrete move never materialised.

Meslier endured a serious drop in form during the second half of last season as a string of errors against the likes of Bournemouth and Fulham left Leeds deep in the lurch of relegation trouble.

With four games of the season remaining upon Sam Allardyce’s appointment, Meslier was dropped to the bench for Joel Robles.

That had looked as though it would be the writing on the wall for Meslier’s Leeds career, with a host of top clubs like Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur having been linked in the past.

Meslier was wanted by Celta Vigo this summer

However, after such a drastic loss of form those sides cooled their interest in Meslier with Celta Vigo reportedly the only side to register their interest.

Funds in Spanish football are tight at the moment, though, and clearly Celta were unable to get anywhere near what Leeds’ asking price was.

Despite the signing of Karl Darlow from Newcastle United, Meslier is now back as first choice at Leeds under the management of Daniel Farke.

So far, he has looked a far more assured presence between the sticks having kept his first clean sheet since February against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.

Meslier appears to be a lot more confident, particularly on the ball, and hopefully he can now start to fulfil the early potential he showed when he first broke through at Leeds.