Illan Meslier has revealed that he turned down offers to stay at Leeds United because he did not ‘want to be selfish’.
Meslier drew interest from abroad during the summer, and it was widely expected at one point in the window that he would leave after a difficult season. He has now explained why he did not in an interview with Leeds Live.
According to the Athletic, Celta Vigo were among the clubs interested in the 23-year-old, but Meslier chose to stay at Elland Road.
Daniel Farke has been reported to be a big fan of Meslier since his appointment, and this has been proven by the fact that he has remained number one despite the signing of Karl Darlow.
Meslier gradually regained his confidence at the start of this season after a disastrous end to the previous campaign, with Farke even labelling him the league’s best goalkeeper after his save at Leicester City.
Meslier claims that he stayed at Leeds because he did not want to be selfish.
Meslier claimed in a recent interview that he had offers to leave Leeds in the summer but did not want to be’selfish’ and stayed to help the club return to the Premier League.
“Of course,” he says. You have to put everything on the table and consider what is good and what is bad, but what was good was the club’s reorganisation and the manager who came in. As a goalkeeper, I wanted to play as much as possible.
“It wasn’t good for me to leave and possibly be on the bench somewhere or not sure if I was going to play.” It was difficult to leave when the club was relegated, but I didn’t want to be selfish. Sometimes you have to be selfish, but this was not my choice.
“So it’s just like, let’s see how you do one season, try everything to get promoted, and then who knows what happens after that.” I want to do everything I can to help Leeds reclaim their place in the Premier League.”
Seeing the majority of his teammates from last season do everything they could to get away from Leeds must have made it difficult to do the same.
However, it is a testament to his character that he recognised his shortcomings last season and is eager to make amends and lead Leeds back to the top flight.
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