Perfect in Jesse Marsch’s eyes as Leeds United’s much-needed veteran goalkeeper, Joel Robles and the club have a decision to make this summer. The former Everton stopper’s one-year deal expires in June.
At 32, Robles is a long way from retirement in goalkeeping terms. At 45, while he may be an extreme example as one of the greatest of all time between the sticks, Gianluigi Buffon is still on the books with Parma.
So the Spaniard still has plenty of miles on the clock if he wishes to push on into 2023/24 with either Leeds or another club. Although based on the way Marsch was describing Robles in November, the Whites will be very keen to keep the veteran on board.
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“I've told Joel from like the third week he was here I could see he was the perfect guy and we made an absolutely fantastic decision to bring him here,” said Marsch. “I've encouraged him to continue to be himself, to integrate himself, to be a leader in the group, to certainly help Illan [Meslier] and Kris [Klaesson], but to also push them and he's done that perfectly, literally perfectly.”
It will be more than just Victor Orta and Javi Gracia who lead the debate on Robles and the other goalkeepers, for that matter. Marcos Abad, who arrived shortly after Orta in 2017, is firmly established as the club’s goalkeeper coach and a key voice at Thorp Arch.
Marcelo Bielsa and Marsch have each spoken in the past about Abad’s opinion behind the scenes when it comes to recruiting goalkeepers at United. Abad has almost been described as an extra scout who liaises with Orta on targets.
The Spaniard recently spoke to Goalkeeper.com about his involvement in recruitment and the importance of relating with the new generation of stoppers coming through. He says it’s about more than just working on their goalkeeping skills.
“In my career, many of the opportunities I have received have been because I’ve passed through great people that let me continue growing,” he said. “As a goalkeeper coach, we have to multitask.
“We have to be psychologists. We are managing really special people that live in something of a bubble. We are in a new generation where social media is really tough and I have to learn how to relate to them in another way because they’re younger than me.
“They find things interesting that might not interest me, but I have to be empathetic, listen to them, try to know what is the problem, what is the question, and what are the things they care about, but let me tell you one thing.
“Thanks to Victor I’m still very heavily involved with the recruitment of goalkeepers. You can sign a goalkeeper who can speak English, but it may not be their language.
“When you miss your parents, when you miss your friends, something I suffered, you have to speak sometimes in their language. Sometimes it’s literally about getting an iPad with Google Translate in and you try to have the same conversation in their language.
“The most important thing is they trust you, and not just as a goalkeeper coach. This makes the difference.”
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