Since his move to Arsenal just two months ago Bernd Leno has been pretty quiet as he adjusted to life in London, but his latest announcement will put a lot of smiles on fans faces.
The Germany International holds the distinction of being the youngest goalkeeper to feature in a Champions League match when he played for Leverkusen against Chelsea (including Petr Cech) in 2011 at just 19 years and 193 days old.
But 230 appearances later for Leverkusen and six caps for the National side, he decided to leave the Bundesliga and join the revolution here at the Emirates, despite reported interest from the likes of Liverpool, Roma and Chelsea.
He is expected to replace the ageing Petr Cech as the clubs number one, although the Czech star has warned Leno that he faces a fight for the number one jersey, and is ready to help the club get back to where we belong, challenging for titles and playing Champions League football.
He admitted he is genuinely happy with life at his new club and is ‘proud to be at Arsenal. “It’s very good, I’m so proud to be part of Arsenal,” he told Arsenal.com. “The team is very nice, the coaching is very good and it’s fun to be here.
“It’s like a family, we have big players, big personalities but I think the atmosphere is brilliant. I’m a little bit surprised [by how good it is], it’s very good for me to come to a team as a new player and the team make it very easy.
“I am satisfied [with the Lazio game], I think the team showed a good performance and the defence was very good as well. We won the game but the most important thing was the performance and that was very good.
“I think we are very close to being at 100 per cent. It was exciting to be in Singapore, then on Wednesday we had a difficult game, and today again, but now we can relax a bit and on Tuesday we will focus on the game on Sunday and prepare for Man City.”
Now Leno is not the completed article just yet after stagnating at Leverkusen over the last few seasons, and many will feel Cech should be the clubs number one until he adjusts to life in the Premier League.
But Cech showed his age on occasions last season and now would be the perfect time for Emery to give his full confidence to Leno, as he is the clubs long-term goalkeeper
Iomie