Abad has been in charge of Leeds’ goalkeeping department since 2017 and has worked with the likes of Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch.

 

The stint has also given him the opportunity to work with a number of foreign goalkeepers, whose adaptation to the English game has also depended in part on the 37-year-old.

 

 

Revealing the secret behind a foreign goalkeeper like Meslier’s success in the Premier League, Abad stated that it is a combination of maximum power, maximum strength and maximum speed.

 

“It’s about how you can combine maximum power not just with maximum strength, but also with maximum speed”, Abad said in an interview with Goalkeeper.com.

 

 

“So it’s not just structural, it’s more about the motion. This is the approach we have to take.

 

“Goalkeepers like Illan are a good example.

 

“His build – a goalkeeper that is robust but moves well – is good.”

 

 

Stressing the need to have both speed and physical strength, Abad added: “In six years in English football, you are going to receive many contacts whilst catching and punching the ball”.

 

Meslier, who joined Leeds first in 2019, has boosted his stock in the English game and could be a target for several clubs in the summer transfer window.