Darren Bent believes that Leeds United will be getting a ‘bargain’ if they sign Illan Meslier on a permanent deal.
Speaking to Football Insider, the 12-cap former England striker believes that Leeds would be doing the ‘right thing‘ if they sign the Frenchman permanently.
Bent said: “Leeds £5m, it’s a bargain, and I’d do it straight away.” The reason Bent thinks this is because in the Championship ‘you have to pick and choose what you do.’
Who do you think should be Leeds' goalkeeper when available?
Casilla
Meslier
Bent went on to say that the Premier League is a ‘different market’ and that Leeds might change their mind on Meslier if they do not get the deal done quickly.
He said in full:
“It’s a snippet and I’m always for getting a deal done early, especially in regards of being a player.
“Leeds, £5million, it’s a bargain and I’d do it straight away but you know what it’s like, in the Championship, you have to pick and choose what you’re going to do.
“You go to the Premier League, all of a sudden you’re shopping in a different market. Although there might have been a deal in place for this goalkeeper, someone might offer you someone else and you think: ‘Hmm, maybe we could do a little bit better.’”
What do we think?
The 20-year-old can join the Whites permanently for just £5.2m in the summer, and it is said that the Frenchman is keen to make this move because of the level of coaching he has received from Marcelo Bielsa.
Meslier has played three times for Leeds since joining from FC Lorient in the summer on a loan deal with an option to buy.
However, in those three games, he has kept two clean sheets and earned ratings of 8/10, 6/10 and 7/10 respectively (Yorkshire Evening Post).
Kiko Casilla is currently serving an eight-match suspension for using racist language towards Jonathan Leko.
This has led to Meslier stepping in, and we don’t think you can ask for too much more than two clean sheets.
For just £5.2m, we feel that Leeds should be taking up their option on Meslier and making him a permanent part of Bielsa’s squad.
It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.