Leeds United failed to deliver on what Daniel Farke wanted from the end of the summer transfer window, as he wanted further attacking reinforcements added to his squad.
The German head coach wanted the 49ers to bring in more quality to bolster his options at the top end of the pitch, to add to Noah Okafor, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and Lukas Nmecha.
Speaking ahead of the deadline, the manager said: “In defence and midfield, goalkeeper position and full-back position, we’ve done really good business. But we spoke quite open and honestly about it, we would need to add some more quality up front. We need to stay awake until the last hour of this window.”
Leeds were interested in a deal to sign Facundo Buonanotte on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion, before Chelsea swooped in to sign him on loan to push the Whites out of the way.
The Argentine attacking midfielder reportedly earns £25k-per-week and could have been a shrewd and cost-effective signing for the Championship champions on loan.
Why Buoanotte would have been a value-for-money signing for Leeds
When you consider some of the wages that are being paid by Leeds within their current first-team squad, Buoanotte could have been a value-for-money addition to the group on a season-long loan.
Per Capology, for example, Jack Harrison is the top earner in the squad on a weekly wage of £90k, despite the fact that he scored one goal in the Premier League on loan at Everton last term and is not currently a starting XI player for Farke.
Whilst it is worth noting that Noah Okafor (£72.5k-per-week) is the only new signing whose wage is reported on Capology, Harrison does not appear to be providing value-for-money for the output that he offers on the pitch.
Particularly when you consider that Buonanotte scored five goals on loan at Leicester, per Sofascore, in the top-flight last season and only earns £25k-per-week, suggesting that he would offer more value for money than the English dud does.
Jack Harrison
£90k
Dan James
£70k
Pascal Struijk
£50k
Brenden Aaronson
£45k
Joe Rodon
£40k
Ethan Ampadu
£40k
Wilfried Gnonto
£30k
Illan Meslier
£30k
Jayden Bogle
£30k
Karl Darlow
£30k
As you can see in the table above, Brenden Aaronson, Karl Darlow, and Illan Meslier also feature within the top ten earners who were at the club at the start of the window, yet they have not started any games this season in the Premier League.
Aaronson, though, has at least come on as a substitute in all three of the team’s league matches so far, which shows that he is still part of Farke’s frontline plans.
The same cannot be said for Meslier, though, as the French goalkeeper has not made any of the matchday squads in any competition for the first-team this season.
He currently earns £5k more per week than Buonanotte does at Brighton/Chelsea, which emphasises how little the Whites are getting back for the wages they are paying him.
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The 49ers should be pushing to cash in on Meslier before the transfer windows in other countries around the globe slam shut, so that they can save roughly £1.5m-per-season on the shot-stopper.
Why Leeds should sell Illan Meslier
Leeds missing out on signing Buonanotte at £25k-per-week, when he scored five goals in the Premier League last season, puts into perspective how little the club are getting back from the wages that they are spending on some of their current squad.
As aforementioned, Meslier has not even made the bench for a match this season, with Lucas Perri and Darlow both ahead of him in the pecking order as it stands, yet he is earning even more than the promising Argentine playmaker.
This is why the 49ers should be pushing to sell him to any potentially interested clubs, whether that is in Turkey or elsewhere, in the coming weeks, if not then in the January transfer window.
Leeds United managing director Robbie Evans told The Athletic that there was some interest in Meslier before the English window slammed shut, but that it was not as strong as he expected for “a player of his calibre”.
Whilst the club are entitled to value the Frenchman as they wish, there has to be a degree of realism because the left-footed dud was unlikely to attract much high-level interest, in terms of clubs or possible transfer fees, after being dropped last season and demoted to third-choice at the start of the current campaign.
The 25-year-old dud made three errors that directly led to goals and conceded 2.73 more goals than expected in the Championship before being dropped for Darlow, per Sofascore, which speaks to how underwhelming his performances were.
Meslier’s struggles in the 2024/25 campaign were far from unpredictable, though, as he has rarely been an impressive or consistent shot-stopper in his career at Elland Road.
23/24 (Championship)
40
-3.1
22/23 (Premier League)
67
-12.4
21/22 (Premier League)
79
-16.2
20/21 (Premier League)
52
-3.4
As you can see in the table above, the French flop conceded a staggering 32 goals more than the post-shot xG expected him to in his three seasons in the Premier League.
This is why there needs to be some realism around a potential sale of Meslier because other teams will look at these performances, and the fact that he has dropped to third-choice this season, and wonder if it is worth spending millions to sign him for their club.
The left-footed goalkeeper, who was once dubbed a “massive liability” by journalist David Kent, has been too poor for too long between the sticks for Leeds, hence why he has found himself in this awkward position at the start of the season.
Therefore, the 49ers must finally try to work out a deal with any of the aforementioned interested teams that Robbie Evans mentioned, if their respective transfer windows are still open, in order to part ways with Meslier.
It may have to wait until January when more teams are available to snap him up, but the lack of quality performances, or any performances at this moment in time, on the pitch shows that the club are not getting value for money out of his wages.