Arsenal: Bernd Leno a much needed Wojciech Szczesny do-over

Arsenal could have built a dynamic duo with Pter Cech and Wojciech Szczesny. Now it’s Bernd Leno’s turn to give them a do-over.

Arsenal’s keeper situation has been given the shake-up with the arrival of £20m man Bernd Leno. The German keeper is only 26 years old which, for keepers, is still in the fruitful stages of development.

Such is the case with Bernd Leno. Once seen as the next Manuel Neuer, Leno has since struggled to regain the promise that he displayed in his early years at Bayer Leverkusen.

If he is already sounding like Wojciech Szczesny, that is no coincidence. They shared a very similar path. They both, from a young age, had/still have tremendous shot-stopping abilities, but have struggled with their presence in the box.

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The two will now have a pronounced difference – one will have not been given the opportunity he so deserved, and the other will.

When Petr Cech came to Arsenal, either Wojciech Szczesny or David Ospina was going to have to leave. The belief was that Cech, who commands his box so well, would be able to impart his knowledge on the often enigmatic Pole, because truly all he needed was a bit of command in his area. That’s all.

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Rather than build this partnership, that was budding with potential, the Gunners shipped off Szczesny and opted for Ospina, who was only ever going to be a deputy.

Now they are getting a do-over in Bernd Leno.

Leno is coming to town to learn from Cech, yes. He is going to, ideally, maximize that potential, like Szczesny ideally would have, and be our keeper for the next decade.

Some think that Cech should still be the starter, and Leno should be the “understudy,” but I don’t see the necessity of this. There will be more of an opportunity if Leno is given first dibs, and therefore the chance to fail. If he fails, fine, let him learn from there as Cech’s “understudy.”

But along with giving him the chance to fail is giving him the chance to succeed. Cech has had so many opportunities in this regard, but Leno obviously hasn’t (at Arsenal, that is). So it only stands to reason that he should get one before anything else.

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Let the solution be the solution. That was what we should have done with Szczesny, but we didn’t. It’s time to make up for that situation with Leno.