Leeds United went in a new direction last year as they decided to part ways with sporting director Victor Orta and brought in Daniel Farke to be the club's new head coach.
The Whites moved on from the Spanish chief, in May, shortly before their relegation from the Premier League became official after his decisions played a part in their struggles in the top-flight.
Orta had replaced Marcelo Bielsa with Jesse Marsch and then subsequently brought in Javi Gracia, in managerial changes that ultimately failed to keep the club in the division by the end of the 2022/23 campaign.
The now-Sevilla mastermind had his fair share of masterclasses and disasterclasses in the transfer market when it came to selling and buying players.
Georginio Rutter, who has hit his stride this season, was snapped up for a club-record £35.5m in January of last year but did not hit the ground running to keep the team in the Premier League.
One move that Orta made that may have gone under the radar as a big howler by the Spaniard, however, was the sale of goalkeeper Elia Caprile, who has thrived since moving on from Elland Road and is now better than Illan Meslier.
Elia Caprile's time with Leeds United
The Whites swooped to sign the impressive young shot-stopper from Italian side Chievo in the January transfer window in 2020 under Marcelo Bielsa.
He had kept seven clean sheets in 40 appearances for Chievo's U19 side and seemingly did enough to convince Leeds that they needed to add him to their academy set-up.
The young gem did not make a single appearance for the Yorkshire-based outfit, at first-team or youth level, during the second half of the 2019/20 campaign.
However, he did go on to play 19 matches for the U21s throughout the 2020/21 season and kept five clean sheets for the youthful Leeds side.
During that campaign, Caprile played against Barrow first-team in the EFL Trophy for the Whites and caught the eye with an impressive display, as you can see in the table below.
Sofascore rating
8.2
Saves
Eight
Save success rate
80%
Penalty shootout saves
One
Pass accuracy
71%
Stats via Sofascore
His form for Leeds at U21 level attracted loan interest from Serie C side Pro Patria, who snapped him up for the 2021/22 campaign on a temporary basis.
Caprile went on to play 39 matches in all competitions for the third division side and kept 13 shutouts in total, including 12 in 36 league outings.
The Italian gem's performances were seemingly not good enough to convince Orta and Leeds that he had a long-term future at Elland Road as he was sold to Serie B outfit Bari for an undisclosed fee in the summer of 2022.
Elia Caprile's progression since leaving Leeds
The Italy U21 international immediately hit the ground running with his new club during the 2022/23 campaign as he became a star in the second division.
Caprile made 37 appearances in the Serie B and caught the eye with an impressive 14 clean sheets and a fantastic save success rate of 77% for Bari.
The talented youngster, who was lauded as a "superstar" by scout Jacek Kulig, only conceded 0.9 goals per match, and saved two of the five penalties he faced, as he provided a strong and consistent presence between the sticks for his side.
His sublime performances in goal for Bari in his first season after moving away from Elland Road caught the eye of Italian giants Napoli last summer.
The Serie A champions saw enough from him in the second tier to splash out a fee of £6m to secure his services ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, and they sent him out on loan to Empoli to develop further.
He started the current season on the bench but finally got his chance to play towards the end of December and has not looked back since, with a string of fantastic displays.
Appearances
Nine
Save success rate
75%
Sofascore rating
7.17
Goals prevented
0.86
Ball recoveries per match
7.3
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, Caprile has been an impressive performer between the sticks in the top division of Italian football, as players have found it very difficult to get the better of him.
Since the start of last season, the 22-year-old colossus has conceded 4.2 fewer goals than expected based on the post-shot xG value of the shots on his goal, which shows that he has been an above-average shot-stopper in the Serie B and the Serie A.
The stats that show Caprile is better than Meslier
Whilst Caprile is currently starring in the Serie A for Empoli, having been signed by the champions Napoli, Meslier has endured a mixed campaign with Leeds in the Championship.
The French titan came into this season off the back of two poor years in the Premier League with the Whites, as the young talent struggled as a shot-stopper.
Meslier conceded a staggering 16.2 more than expected in the top-flight during the 2021/22 campaign, and 12.4 more than expected during the following season as Leeds were relegated from the division.
This means that the left-footed goalkeeper let in 28.6 more goals than the average shot-stopper would have been expected to based on the quality of shots on his goal, which illustrates how poorly the youngster performed.
This season, the 23-year-old gem has played 31 times in the Championship for Leeds and saved 68% of the efforts against him, which has led to 0.5 more goals conceded than expected based on post-shot xG.
Appearances
Nine
31
Save success rate
75%
68%
Goals prevented
0.86
-2.47
Sofascore rating
7.17
6.85
Run-out (sweeping) success rate
100%
88%
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, Caprile has been far more impressive between the sticks in the top-flight of Italian football than Meslier has been in the second division of English football.
The 22-year-old ace, who is one year younger than the Leeds number one, has been an above-average shot-stopper and incredibly efficient in his sweeping actions, whereas Farke's first-choice has room to improve in both of those aspects of his game.
Overall, their respective statistics in recent years, and this season in particular, given the difference in level they are playing at, suggest that Caprile is a much better, and younger, goalkeeper who Orta had a big howler with when he sold him to Bari in 2022.
Leeds may now live to rue their decision to part ways with the Italian colossus, whose current trajectory has him on course to become an excellent player at the top level, whereas Meslier has been average at best – as a shot-stopper – in the Championship.
