Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a deal to bring Illan Meslier to north London.

What's the talk?

Transfer Focus

That's according to a report by The Athletic, in which Phil Hay revealed that Spurs are as interested as anyone in the 22-year-old Leeds United goalkeeper, with Fabio Paratici and Antonio Conte believed to view the 22-year-old as Hugo Lloris' long-term successor between the Tottenham sticks.

The same journalist also touched on Spurs' interest in the France U21 international on a recent episode of The Phil Hay Show, in which the titular reporter said: "It's quite interesting that Spurs are one of the clubs looking at him as Lloris is getting into his mid-30s now and he is out of contract in 2024.

"You would assume that Tottenham would now be looking at a succession plan for him. Pretty eventful time for Meslier but this season he has looked better than he ever has and has been a top-class goalkeeper."

Dream Lloris heir

As Hay suggests, with Lloris turning 36 years of age later this year, and the France captain's current contract in north London set to expire at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, it would indeed appear wise for Paratici to start putting a succession plan in place for the veteran shot-stopper.

And, considering just how impressive Meslier has been following his permanent move to Elland Road back in the summer of 2020, the youngster would very much look to be something of a dream heir for his fellow countryman between the Tottenham sticks.

Indeed, the £45m-rated goalkeeper was in remarkable form over his 35 Premier League appearances back in 2021/22, keeping 11 clean sheets and making an average of 4.0 saves per game - the joint fifth-most and the second-most in the top flight respectively that season.

These returns saw the starlet - who Fabrizio Romano claimed is "untouchable" at Leeds - average an astonishing SofaScore match rating of 7.13, not only ranking him as Leeds' third-best performer in the league but also as the joint 33rd-best player in the division as a whole that year.

And, despite a slightly below-par showing last season - something largely down to the Whites' extremely disappointing campaign - the £22k-per-week talent has once again shown his quality over his six Premier League fixtures so far this season, keeping one clean sheet and making an average of 2.8 saves per game - at a success rate of 68%.

As such, while the day that the £100k-per-week Lloris waves his final goodbye to Tottenham will undoubtedly be an extremely sad one, should Paratici manage to bring Meslier in as the 35-year-old's successor, it would very much look as if the Italian director of football will have landed the Frenchman's dream heir - something that would certainly soften the blow for all involved with Spurs.