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October 4, 2024
The team led by Régis Le Bris is leading the Championship, but on Friday night, the manager’s former Lorient student will interfere.
One of the reasons Regis Le Bris is now Sunderland’s manager is because of Illan Meslier. Still, he and his Leeds teammates want to silence a crowded Stadium of Light on Friday night.
When Meslier was a teenager, he attended a Le Bris-run academy in Lorient. There, he received professional boxing instruction from a coach, which he now says gave him the courage to face center forwards head-on.
Remarkably, Meslier also spent countless hours honing his body control techniques on a trampoline and participated in regular “santé mentale” sessions intended to enhance psychological stability under duress.
Due to all of this, Meslier, who was 20 years old at the time, became one of the Premier League’s most promising young goalkeepers when Marcelo Bielsa thrust him into the Leeds first team four years ago.
“The mentality Lorient taught us and the maturity they gave us in the academy made it easy to adapt,” said Meslier, who was also managed by Le Bris in the French club’s reserve side. “It was so tough.”
Back in the Championship, Leeds United competes for automatic promotion under new manager Daniel Farke, with Sunderland, the current league leader, among their main rivals.
Sunderland’s rise to the top, under Régis Le Bris’s guidance, has surprised many in English football, especially considering that Le Bris only stepped into senior management two years ago when he took over at Lorient.
Sunderland’s perfect home record, without conceding a single goal, and their disciplined, intelligent style of play have left critics who doubted Le Bris’s qualifications in human physiology and biomechanics scratching their heads. Far from irrelevant, his expertise has clearly helped Sunderland maintain superb organization, effective pressing, and devastating wing play.
With 18 points from eight matches, Sunderland’s success isn’t just about luck. Le Bris’s extensive experience in youth coaching is evident, particularly in how he’s developed a squad with an average age of 23. Teenagers like 17-year-old Chris Rigg and 19-year-old Jobe Bellingham have been pivotal in midfield, showing the value of Le Bris’s background in nurturing young talent. His appointment by Sunderland’s owner, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, seems astute, especially given Le Bris’s reputation as one of Europe’s top youth developers. Bellingham, a £3 million signing from Birmingham last year, was a significant investment by the club, and his current market value likely far exceeds that, potentially reaching £40 million.
As for Farke, he has immense respect for Le Bris, who not only shaped Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier but also worked with talents like Mattéo Guendouzi, now a Lazio midfielder, during his time at Lorient.
“Sunderland are a really dangerous side,” said the German, who will doubtless be wary of the home wingers Patrick Roberts and Romaine Mundle. The latter 20-year-old, a forward worth £1 million who previously played for Standard Liège, has adapted well into Le Bris’ starting lineup since Jack Clarke’s August £20 million transfer to Ipswich. “I’m respectful of their work. We know we have to be at our best to give ourselves a chance. Sunderland have really good shape and good players and they’re strong on the counterattack.”
Leeds, the beaten play-off finalists from the previous season, are still getting used to life without Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville, and Georginio Rutter despite their fifth-place standing in the Championship with 15 points. The trio was sold for £90 million this summer to Tottenham, West Ham, and Brighton, respectively. 49er Enterprises, a company based in San Francisco, may have had trouble adhering to sustainability and profit regulations if the club’s owners hadn’t made that triple sale.
It seems unfair that Farke is labeled as “under pressure” with each loss at Elland Road, especially since only one goal has been given away. Players like £10 million former Almería winger Largie Ramazani and £3.5 million former Fortuna Düsseldorf midfielder Ao Tanaka are among the new arrivals still getting used to Elland Road. However, plans to modernize Elland Road and increase its capacity to 53,000 are expensive and moving quickly, so getting back to the top seems necessary.
The Leeds manager revealed he “desperately needs” his No. 9 player Patrick Bamford to return to his best form after summer knee surgery. Still, he could have done without the injuries that would keep him from his first-choice central midfielders, Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev, for the next few weeks.
Le Bris isn’t going to undervalue Farke’s side, though. “They’re very strong, both in and out of possession,” he said, exhibiting a fluency in English that belies the reality he only began learning the language two years ago. “The game will be hard to win and we will have to manage it intelligently. Leeds are well managed, primed for promotion … and they have a very good goalkeeper.”
Le Bris grinned at the mention of Meslier as he spoke to the northeast media on Thursday, cracking a funny “tres bien” every time a reporter managed a half-sentence of halting French.
“Illan’s a very good reader of the game and very strong mentally,” he said. “I like the person as well as the player so I’m very happy he’s done so well … But I hope he’s picking the ball out of his net tomorrow!”
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