Arsenal have agreed a deal to sign Bayer Leverkusen keeper Bernd Leno for close to £20million.
Leno becomes fresh new manager Unai Emery’s second signing, following the free transfer of Stephan Lichtsteiner from Juventus.
The exact figure stands at around £19.2million
Emery reportedly has just a £50million kitty to play with this window and is focused on shrewd signings to bolster a decent squad.
Leno has made 33 appearances in the Bundesliga this season for Leverkusen, managing ten clean-sheets in a campaign in which they finished and admirable fifth place and a Europa League spot.
He has been at Die Werkself since 2011. Leno missed out on this year’s Germany squad for the World Cup currently taking place.
Leno has been handed six international caps previously.
Petr Cech, presumably pushed out of his starting berth, is now strongly linked with a move away to Napoli, who finished close runners-up to Juventus in Serie A this past season in their strongest title challenge in years.
Cech has been one of the Premier League’s greatest ever goalkeepers, but his switch from Chelsea to Arsenal in 2015 after losing his place to Thibaut Courtois has led to increased scrutiny and a sheer drop in performance levels.
Fans have been outspoken over his lack of reliability and will no doubt be overjoyed by the arrival of a solid, and importantly young, keeper to the upcoming season.
Did You Know? - Arsenal Keepers Since 2000
David Seaman (1990-2003)
Stuart Taylor (1997-2005)
Alex Manniger (1997-2002)
Richard Wright (2001-2002)
Rami Shaaban (2002-2004)
Jens Lehmann (2003-2008)
Manuel Almunia (2004-2012)
Mart Poom (2006-2007)
Vito Mannone (2006-2013)
Lukasz Fabianski (2007-2014)
Wojciech Szczesny (2009-2017)
David Ospina (2014-)
Damian Emiliano Martinez (2012-)
Petr Čech (2015-)
