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In their first act as Premier League champions, Arsenal are sleepwalking towards yet another disaster between the sticks.
That is because Illan Meslier has arrived at N5 on a free transfer after his release from Leeds United last season.
At a glance, it seems harmless: the Frenchman is very experienced having been first choice for Leeds for five seasons and, at one point, he was considered to rank amongst the best young goalkeepers in European football.
What is the harm in signing him? He is joining for free; he boasts top-flight experience and surely he is good enough for the bit-part role he will have in north London; Meslier will only be the third choice in goal (if Kepa stays) and, thus, he is only there for emergencies.
Arsenal are sleepwalking towards disaster yet again following their acquisition of Illan Meslier
But here is the harm: He is an error-prone ‘keeper with many weaknesses and Arsenal have been on this road too often in recent times. Meslier committed a litany of errors in his final year at Leeds via a combination of poor concentration (vs Sunderland in October 2024), fumbling a cross (vs Swansea in March 2025 and vs Hull City in January 2025) and bad decision-making to come off his line (also vs Hull in January 2025).
Those mistakes show him to have questionable box presence – a hugely important quality for Arsenal goalkeepers to have – and mark him out as a potential liability for the sweeper-keeper role which he would need to fulfil for the Gunners.
And forget the ‘only third choice’ argument; if you are not good enough to start, then it follows that you are not good enough for the squad either. The Gunners have tried half measures in goal before with Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson, Neto and most recently Kepa, with mishaps between the three of them costing the team a number of goals and, in Kepa’s case, directly hurting their chances of winning the Carabao Cup last term.
That trio were responsible for at least three of the goals that Arsenal conceded during their time on the pitch as 'just' a back-up option (costing the team silverware in the process) and they only played a combined total of 19 games!
Perhaps Meslier will be different, the star quality which shone for Leeds once upon a time might still be in there somewhere. But his recent efforts do not inspire confidence and his stock has fallen so far that, in 2025/26, he only made two appearances all season – both of which were in Premier League 2 for Leeds United u21.
If he is called upon for the first team at any point next campaign, then Arsenal could find themselves in big goalkeeping trouble. Again.
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