Arsenal have no intention of letting Bernd Leno leave in January
According to The Athletic, Arsenal will not sanction a January move for their German shot-stopper Leno.
The former Bayer Leverkusen man hasn’t started a single Premier League game since the 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Summer signing Aaron Ramsdale has taken his place and has barely put a foot wrong, which has made the German’s entry back to the first team even more difficult.
It is still a probable outcome that the 29-year-old will try to force his way out of the Emirates Stadium in the winter transfer window.
There are two reasons behind it. Leno has hardly played second fiddle in his entire career. The other reason is that the shot-stopper will naturally try to maximize his chances of getting into the German setup ahead of the World Cup finals in Qatar next year.
With 18 months left on his deal, Arsenal would hope to get a decent fee for Leno, who they signed in 2018 for £22.5 million on a five-year contract.
Every Gunners fan agree that Ramsdale is the better goalkeeper out of the two. The Englishman not only has better shot stopping ability, but his distribution is also far superior than his counterpart.
That is something few Arsenal fans would have envisioned, when the club were pursuing his signature for a whopping £30 million three months ago.
Many people and reputed journalists got it wrong. And it seems, the North London outfit have got it right, which is extremely satisfying.
Arsenal also showed a more ruthless face in the last transfer window. They put a halt to using the players who were good in the past but continued to be bad in the present.
Players like Calum Chambers, Cedric Soares, Pablo Mari, Mohamed Elneny, Rob Holding and Leno himself became squad players.
While some like Matteo Guendouzi, Lucas Torreira, Hector Bellerin and Willian were moved on. In the summer transfer window, Arsenal showed ambition.
And if they continue that, you can only wonder where this team will be standing in a few years’ time.
Taking the conversation back to Leno, if he doesn’t want to stay and fight for a place in the first team, then he’s better served elsewhere.
When all the people in a boat row in the same direction only then the boat goes in the right direction. Nobody would need a person aboard who would make that task harder.