Illan Meslier should be acquired by Erik ten Hag's Manchester United from Javi Gracia's Leeds United during the summer transfer window, according to Stan Collymore.
The former Liverpool striker claimed in CaughtOffSide that Manchester United needed to replace David de Gea as their starting goalkeeper in the summer transfer window.
Although Collymore is aware that French goalkeeper Meslier is only 23 years old, he thinks Manchester United may nurture the teenager. The analyst has mentioned Meslier as a potential replacement for De Gea.
Obviously the likes of Meslier has had a very, very difficult season at Leeds but he’s still a baby. Would he be someone they’d look to develop?” Stan Collymore wrote on his column for CaughtOffside.
After Manchester United's defeat to Sevilla, Erik ten Hag can learn from Sir Alex Ferguson's prior errors in regards to how to handle David De Gea.
Sevilla eliminated a mediocre United on Thursday, defeating them 3-0 on the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium and 5-2 overall.
Ten Hag's team was early down in southern Spain, as a mix-up between De Gea and the infamous Harry Maguire allowed the hosts to score first. Soon after the break, defender Loic Bade's looping header gave Sevilla a double-digit lead.
Nine minutes from time, Youssef En-Nesyri capitalized on De Gea's inability to keep the ball under control and scored into an empty net to seal United's humiliation.
Ten Hag refused to single out any of the players after the game despite De Gea's disastrous performance, despite the fact that he had been all praise for the Spanish goalkeeper prior to the game, referring to him as a "complete keeper" in his pre-game remarks.
However, the 32-year-old has committed more mistakes leading to an opponent goal in all competitions since the start of last season than any other Premier League goalkeeper. He is now in negotiations to prolong his 12-year stay at Old Trafford.
Even though it's believed that De Gea's contract talks are well along, some United supporters are urging Ten Hag to take note of Ferguson's earlier remarks.
Speaking in 2021, Ferguson stressed that it was critical to be harsh and get go of underperforming players, regardless of how long they had been with the team.
When asked if he had any regrets regarding his tenure as United manager, the United icon admitted that he found it challenging to transfer players to new clubs.
Sir Alex Ferguson said via the Manchester Evening News: “There are always going to be regrets, but the thing is always to look forward. Tomorrow’s another day. I always did when we lost a game. The next day was better, without question."
"But in terms of the regrets… the 1994 team I had, the back four all seemed to grow old together, and that’s a terrible thing to happen to the manager because these guys were fantastic for me. [Paul] Parker, [Steve] Bruce, [Gary] Pallister, [Dennis] Irwin: Fantastic players."
"They gave me nine or 10 years and the evidence is always on the football field. They don’t see it. I see it. The problem for me is ‘what do I do about it?’."
"I managed to organise a move for them, and they did well out of it, but telling them is very, very difficult."
Sir Alex Ferguson detailed how difficult it was to let players leave, especially when they were at the early stages of the career.
Ferguson said: "The process was the youth coach and the welfare chap would come in with the player you’re going to let go. Maybe he’s only 17, 18 years of age.
"The way we’d explain it is we’d try and get him a team. We’d try and get him a club and ‘we’re sorry we’re having to do this’. That’s terrible.
"That is the worst thing, having to let a young player go. All his ambitions and hopes and desires are about playing for Manchester United in front of 75,000 people and going to Wembley in a final.
"That’s the ambition of every young kid that comes to Manchester United, and when you take that away from him, it’s a sore, sore thing. So I hated that. I hated that.”
David De Gea, in Paul Scholes' opinion, cannot play in the style Erik ten Hag wants to impose at Manchester United.
On Thursday night, Ten Hag's team suffered a humiliating three-goal loss to Sevilla, ending their European campaign. The troubled De Gea was at fault for each of the three goals, but most notably for the third goal when he air-kicked a clearing to allow the hosts an open goal.
On a miserable night for United, who could have easily lost the game by a larger margin, Yousef En-Nesyri scored on either side of Loic Bade's header. The outcome and manner of the performance will raise many concerns about the futures of many players, including De Gea.
The Spaniard's Old Trafford contract expires this summer, and despite ongoing talks about a renewal, nothing has been finalized as of yet. In order to replace De Gea, United has been linked to the recruitment of a goalkeeper this summer.
“He was making me nervous the whole night with the game he was having,” Scholes said on BT Sport after the match, analysing De Gea’s performance. “I think he was making the whole team nervous.
“Nobody knew if he was going to control it or try to clear it. I am still not too sure what he was trying to do.”
His fellow BT pundit Owen Hargreaves agreed, adding: “When he comes out, he 100 per cent does not know what he is going to do. He should just put his foot through it but he is indecisive. He tried to stop that ball dead under his foot, but that was impossible with that ball.”
Hargreaves continued: “De Gea is a brilliant shot-stopper who has been a tremendous servant to this football club. But he struggles with his feet and that has shown at times this season with how United are trying to play.
“Ten Hag wants his team to play out from the back and play. But the goals United c
onceded came from that. So it looks like he is not fit for that philosophy.”
Scholes concurred, giving the impression that the Spaniard might be removed this summer and that the main issue was the type of performance that was expected of him: He was an excellent goalkeeper for this team, but he was never an excellent football player.
“This manager wants a footballer, so he is asking David to do something he is not comfortable with – that might make him nervous.
“He kicked the ball out of play under no pressure in the first minute and he was not coming for crosses. That is without talking about the goals. He needed to calm the game down and he did not.”
Ten Hag said after the match on his goalkeeper: “David de Gea as a long-term goalkeeper? He is the one with the cleanest sheets in the Premier League."
"Tonight we weren't good enough, that was obvious, that was clear," Ten Hag told reporters.
"I have to acknowledge (the lack of fight), it's the truth, it's hard, it's tough, it's unacceptable."
The Red Devils suffered a resounding thrashing at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan after a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the quarterfinal match at Old Trafford.
A rowdy atmosphere was produced by home fans. After Harry Maguire made a mistake and Youssef En-Nesyri scored after seven minutes, the visitors never seemed to have a chance to get back into the game.
Early in the second half, Loic Bade scored with a header, and after a David de Gea blunder, En-Nesyri added another.
Even though Sevilla is struggling in La Liga, currently in 13th place and yet in danger of being demoted, the Andalusians outplayed and outfought Manchester United, who is currently third in the Premier League.
Manchester United only managed a distant Casemiro shot before failing to challenge Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.
"We have to be better. It's not about playing skills, it's about character, to be composed and have desire and passion. They had more willingness to win and it can't be. I think that's unacceptable," added Ten Hag
Jose Luis Mendilibar, the coach of Sevilla, claimed that his team stuck to the game plan and prevented Manchester United from taking control of the match.
"Our idea was to press them when they had the ball at the back, I think it went quite well, we scored the first goal robbing the ball on the edge of their box," said the coach.
"Aside from the goals, I think that we stopped the opponent and they didn't play in any moment with comfort."
"I think we were superior...I think it was the merit of our players."
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