With Real Madrid having lost one of their most important stars to injury, the Spanish giants are now said to have turned their sights to a player who was recently relegated from the Premier League.
On Thursday, Los Blancos announced that their No. 1 Thibaut Courtois will miss most, if not all, of the coming campaign after tests carried out on the player showed that he had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
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The Belgian is due to undergo surgery and his lengthy absence in the months ahead has prompted the LALIGA club to look to the market for a capable replacement.
A number of goalkeepers have since been mooted as potential candidates, including Yassine Bounou, David de Gea, Giorgi Mamardashvili, Kepa Arrizabalaga, and Dominik Livakovic.
According to Spanish outlet SPORT, the Madrid club has now added Leeds United shot-stopper Illan Meslier to their list of options, despite him now plying his trade in the second tier of English football.
The Frenchman was considered one of the best young goalkeepers to look out for following the 2020/21 campaign, during which he featured in 35 Premier League matches for Leeds to help them to a ninth-place finish, accruing 11 clean sheets in the process.
He would play in all 38 EPL games the following season, but things took a sharp decline in the 2022/23 campaign as Leeds were relegated to the Championship, with Meslier making several high-profile errors.
However, aged just 23 and having been a regular for France at various youth levels from the U17s up, the Lorient-born star is still considered a big talent with a bright future in the game, although it remains to be seen if the Spanish giants will pull the trigger and sign him as Courtois' replacement for the coming season.
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