From an unwilling young goalkeeper to one of Europe’s most highly rated young keepers, Meslier’s strong local roots run deep.
Illan Meslier’s journey to Arsenal began in a small town near Lorient, where those who first coached the goalkeeper still speak about him with immense pride.
The 26-year-old completed his move to Arsenal at the start of this month, but in Merlevenez he remains the local boy who grew into one of the area’s greatest football success stories.
For Loic Hado, one of Meslier’s earliest coaches, the goalkeeper’s rise has become a story worth preserving.
According to an article in Dimanche Ouest France, over the years he has collected notebooks filled with newspaper cuttings, photographs and reports documenting every stage of Meslier’s career.
“To see a Merlevenez child walking on the Arsenal pitch is much more than a pride, it’s a daydream,” he said. “Apart from PSG, there is no club above.”
Meslier’s goalkeeping career, however, almost never happened.
In 2007, ES Merlevenez needed someone to go in goal for a match and Bardouille persuaded the youngster to take the gloves.
“How can I tell you that he had no choice?” he said. “He was disgusted and didn’t want to play that game. It’s difficult to go from the one who scores to the one who remains compartmentalised in the goals.”
It’s a story Meslier himself has told. “It happened a bit by chance,” he said in 2018. “I was eight years old, and my old club were playing in a tournament in Hennebont.
“There was no goalkeeper. I was asked to go in goal, and it was only when Lorient came to get me, at nine years old, that I realised I couldn’t move position.”
That first outing ended in an 8-3 defeat against FC Lorient, but those around him remember an individual display that hinted at what was to come.
Even then, Meslier was not considered the standout talent of his age group.
“At the time, we had a golden generation,” Hado told the French publication. “No one really stood out, but one thing was for sure, it wasn’t necessarily Illan. He was a child like any other.”
Former team-mate Mael Cozian remembers a quiet youngster whose personality contrasted with what he would later achieve.
“He was at the back, quiet, pained. He was doing his job, he was listening. He wasn’t making any noise.”
That attitude helped earn Meslier a place at FC Lorient in 2009, a moment still remembered fondly in his hometown.
“When the news broke, we went crazy, we were running everywhere! An incredible excitement. We knew that this kind of fate did not happen to everyone.”
His route to the top was not straightforward.
After signing his first professional contract with FC Lorient in 2018 and breaking into the first team under Mickael Landreau, his progress stalled when Christophe Pelissier arrived with goalkeeper Paul Nardi, leaving Meslier on the bench just before the new season.
The setback prompted a move to Leeds United in 2020, where he flourished under Marcelo Bielsa and established himself as one of Europe’s most highly regarded young goalkeepers, before a change of leadership altered his fortunes.
As Meslier prepares for the next chapter of his career at Arsenal, the village where it all began continues to follow every step, convinced one of their own belongs among Europe’s elite.
Arsenal fans will be hoping he proves them right.
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