Goalkeeper Bernd Leno joins Arsenal from Bayer Leverkusen in £20m deal

German international keeper Bernd Leno has moved to Arsenal from Bayer Leverkusen, with the deal confirmed on Tuesday evening.

Leverkusen posted to Twitter: ‘Bernd Leno is joining Arsenal, effective immediately. Thanks for all of your hard work and dedication, Bernd! We wish you all the best in this next phase of your career!’ 

Arsenal then confirmed the deal on their own social media page, with a short video captioned ‘he’s a keeper’. 

German international keeper Bernd Leno has moved to Arsenal from Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen confirmed on Tuesday that their No 1 keeper had moved to the Premier League

Leverkusen confirmed on Tuesday that their No 1 keeper had moved to the Premier League

The 26-year-old has agreed a five-year deal with the Emirates Stadium club for £20million

The 26-year-old has agreed a five-year deal with the Emirates Stadium club for £20million

The 26-year-old has agreed a five-year deal with the Emirates Stadium club and will join Unai Emery’s revolution for a £20million transfer fee. 

Emery told the club website: ‘Bernd is a goalkeeper of high quality and experience. He has been a top performer and regular No 1 goalkeeper with Leverkusen in the Bundesliga for the past seven years.

‘We are all excited that Bernd has chosen Arsenal and look forward to start working with him in pre-season.’

Talks have been ongoing for several weeks, and with the formalities complete Leno will now swap Germany for England. 

The move casts serious doubt over Petr Cech’s future at the club. The former Chelsea star has established himself as Arsenal’s first-choice keeper in recent seasons, but Leno has arrived expecting to be No 1. 

Leno, 26, made more than 300 appearances for Leverkusen before moving to England

Leno, 26, made more than 300 appearances for Leverkusen before moving to England

Napoli have an interest in taking Petr Cech on loan but have others as priorities. Cech, 36, has just 12 months remaining on his contract with Arsenal and it is not clear whether Emery wants to keep the veteran beyond that.

Arsenal’s new boss Emery has lined up 26-year-old Leno, Sampdoria midfielder Lucas Torreira and Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos with more talks ongoing with other targets. 

Leno signed for Leverkusen in 2011 from Stuttgart and in September became the youngest goalkeeper to feature in a Champions League match at the age of just 19 years and 193 days, during a group-stage game against Chelsea.

Notably, Leno has missed just five Bundesliga games across the last seven seasons, making him one of the most recognisable figures in German football. He will leave Bayer Leverkusen with 304 appearances to his name. 

Leno has won six senior caps for Germany, however he missed out on a place in the World Cup squad, with Manuel Neuer, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Kevin Trapp selected for Russia. 

Leno missed out on a place in the 23-man Germany squad for the 2018 World Cup

Leno missed out on a place in the 23-man Germany squad for the 2018 World Cup



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