Our new signing Illan Meslier says he arrives at the club with an "anger and determination" to demonstrate his ability and help us lift more trophies.
The 26-year-old former France youth international had been with Leeds United since 2019, though found himself out of favour last season, having been their undisputed No. 1 for the previous five years. After joining us as a free agent to become our first signing of the summer, Illan spoke about his pride and excitement of joining the Premier League champions, and he can’t wait to get down to work with his teammates ahead of our title defence.
“I’m extremely, extremely happy,” he said in his welcome interview. “It's a great day for me because I’ve just joined the champions. It's the biggest club here in England, so I'm very happy to join this massive club, and it’s also a massive opportunity for me. I'm extremely happy to join and to try to do the back-to-back.”
The Lorient-born keeper, who stands 6'6" tall, said that Mikel Arteta has already explained to him what it means to join a club of this size. But Illan believes his experience of playing for Leeds, where he made more than 200 appearances – more than half of which were in the Premier League – will stand him in good stead.
“When I came to Leeds, I didn't speak English at all,” he explained. “I didn't really know the league. But seven years later, I speak English now and I know the Prem.
“Last season was a special year, strangely enough for me. Unfortunately, this happens a lot in the careers of players. But I never give up. I keep working very hard every day, training, always being ready for the players who need help.
"I worked a lot mentally because I had a different perspective on football and training. It helped me a lot, to be honest. So I come back this year with a lot of anger and determination. I want to give everything and show my level is still high and that Arsenal did a great job to take me.”
Illan describes his goalkeeping style as “very proactive.” He added: “I like to make decisions. I also love to play from the floor, to use my feet. With a team like this, with the quality of the players, I have no doubts that it will be easier for me to play with these guys. I like to help the team as much as I can, being decisive at a good moment. This is who I am.”
He’s particularly keen to start working alongside David Raya and the rest of the goalkeeping union at the club, rather than looking on from the outside.
“David and Kepa - I've played against them since I joined Leeds so I know them,” he said. “They're great goalkeepers, and the goalkeeping coach Inaki [Cana], I’ve known him since he was at Brentford. So I'm really excited to work with them, because I'm sure I have a lot to learn from them.
“David is an extremely good keeper. I love his style of play. I'm really excited to see the backstage of his work. I just see him on a matchday, but I'm really excited to see how he works during the week. Obviously, if I can have a look and receive some tips from him, it would be more than welcome.”
Illan already knows a couple of his new teammates well – he’s played at various youth levels with William Saliba for the France national team, and Ben White was a fellow loanee at Leeds United in 2019/20. In fact, Ben was in the Leeds team when Illan made his debut in English football, at Emirates Stadium, as fate would have it.
“I couldn’t have dreamt of having a better start, at such an incredible stadium,” he said, looking back to the FA Cup third round match in January 2020. “Against an amazing team, I think it was also the first [FA Cup] game of Mikel Arteta on the bench for Arsenal, so it was a great night to start my career here in England.
"We lost, but honestly, it was 90 amazing minutes, because even if we got knocked out of the cup, as a kid, it's amazing to play in such a great atmosphere, in a great stadium. I was just very pleased to play against Arsenal at 20 years old.”
Illan is now looking forward to being back at the Emirates, this time in Arsenal colours.
“First of all, I want to start [working] with the keepers, to show my levels, to continue to develop my skills, my ability. And then obviously to gain some game time, because this is what I missed last year.
“This year, I want to show that I want to play. I cannot wait to show the love that I've got for this badge, and I cannot wait to lift some trophies, because this is a club that needs to lift trophies again and again.”
Watch the full interview with Illan by pressing play on the video above
