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Jermaine Beckford has suggested that Leeds United’s Illan Meslier has the edge over Everton counterpart Jordan Pickford when it comes to concentration levels.

Aged 20, Meslier is the youngest first-choice goalkeeper in the Premier League this season and has looked extremely assured during his first taste of top-flight football.

The £5million star (Yorkshire Evening Post) came into the Leeds team in the latter stages of last season, as they get over the line for promotion in the Championship.

Whites boss Marcelo Bielsa has stood by the young Frenchman in net and he’s kept four clean sheets in 11 league games so far, with some really impressive individual displays.

Meanwhile, Pickford has been the main goalkeeper at Goodison Park in recent years for Everton and is capable of stunning reflex saves, but he’s been under the spotlight at times for errors.

The 26-year-old is often under the magnifying glass due to the fact he’s England’s number one and there are still question marks over him for many people.

Beckford has recognised Pickford as an “outstanding” shot-stopper, but has suggested Leeds youngster Meslier may mentality be a little stronger than him.

“As a goalkeeper, you have to have a different kind of mindset and mentality, where you have to be switched on, you have to be concentrated, well concentrated, constantly,” Beckford told Doing A Leeds podcast.

“Lots of goalkeepers don’t have it. Some goalkeepers have it in little bits and bobs. Jordan Pickford for example unbelievable goalkeeper, but he has a moment where he just switches off, and his concentration levels disappear just for a split second, and then he’ll concede a goal or do something silly or irrational.

“Meslier doesn’t seem like, and I know it’s still early doors, doesn’t seem like he has that switch where he switches off.”

TBR’s View:

20-year-old Meslier has been performing like an established goalkeeper during the opening quarter of the season and the potential that he has is astonishing.

He should perhaps be judged at the end of a full first year in the Premier League, but the early signs are very promising and at such a young age he’s a commanding presence behind the defence.

It won’t be long if he continues developing that he will be talked about in the same conversation as the likes of Pickford and proven goalkeepers, but it must be admitted that the Everton man is under pressure to cut out the mistakes that creep into his game at times.