Joel Robles knew he was never likely to be Leeds United’s number one this season after arriving at Elland Road in the summer. That title was always going to be Illan Meslier’s and that will remain the case as the Frenchman continues to mature and develop into one of the Premier League’s finest young goalkeepers.
However, that’s not to say Robles isn’t providing competition for Meslier, with Marsch explaining the 32-year-old is playing his back-up role ‘perfectly’. Leeds were clear in their intentions when he joined the club, following his release from La Liga club Real Betis.
The Spaniard wouldn’t play much, but he was to provide a helping hand for young keepers Meslier and Kristoffer Klaesson by keeping them on their toes and offering advice and guidance when needed. However, having claimed a spot on the bench in the last few weeks, it would be a fair assumption to make that Robles has established himself as the club’s number two.
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He was given the nod to feature in the Carabao Cup last week, too, lining up against Wolves at Molineux for the first time in a Leeds shirt. United lost the game 1-0 but Robles managed to impress by pulling off a couple of fine saves and while his performance wasn’t enough to tempt Marsch into re-considering his number one, it was enough to see his name crop up in a recent press conference.
“Illan is our number one. There's no doubt,” Marsch said when asked how hard Robles was pushing Meslier. “Let's start from square one, we wanted a veteran goalkeeper to come in to help push the our young goalkeepers competitively every day and to help provide a little bit more experience as to what the position can look like with savviness and understanding and controlling of the match through that position.
“A guy that knew what the role was and could commit to it all the way in a selfless manner. I've told Joel from like the third week that he was here that I could see he was the perfect guy and that we made an absolutely fantastic decision to bring him here.
“I've encouraged him to continue to be himself, to integrate himself, to be a leader in the group, to certainly help Illan and Kris but to also push them and I think he's done that perfectly, literally perfectly.
“I thought the match he played against Wolves showed all of his qualities which isn't just his technical and tactical ability, but his feel of the game I thought was incredible. So this, to me, is what young goalkeepers need, right?
“They need to understand how to manipulate a game in a way to be in control of every moment. So it'll be important for Illan and for Kris, they've accepted him really well.
“I think he's challenged them, but I think it's been in a real positive way and I think it'll be key for them to learn from him.”
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