Arsenal: Bernd Leno won’t answer critics in preseason

Arsenal’s preseason tour of Singapore is underway, with games against Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain looming. For Bernd Leno, he will not be able to answer his critics, even with the best of performances. Here’s why.

Arsenal signed Bernd Leno for £19 million earlier this summer. The Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper was deemed an improvement on an ageing Petr Cech and unconvincing David Ospina, with Head of Recruitment Sven Mislintat choosing to exploit his Bundesliga expertise and pull the trigger on a transfer that he determined worthy of investment.

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However, the general consensus on Leno is not quite as positive as Mislintat’s opinion of the player. While there is a general acceptance of his natural ability — he was a regular starter at just 19 years old –, the error-prone characteristics that he displayed as a younger prospect are still detrimental to his game.

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Now at 26, Leno still has the inconsistencies, the individual errors, the momentary mistakes, the maddening decisions that undermined his performances earlier in his career. When he was 20, 21, 22, there was an acceptance that such mistakes are just a product of youth. They happen. Unfortunately. And with experience, lessons would be learned, changes to technique and positioning would be made, and the frequency and damage of the mistakes would lessen.

That, however, has not quite been the case. If anything, Leno has made more errors in the past two or three seasons than he did when he first broke into the first team all those years ago. 26 is still not exactly old for a goalkeeper and there is time to develop and further hone his skills, but it is a concerning trait for a player that cost £19 million. That is the primary source of the criticism of the signing.

Leno, therefore, will surely be keen to silence his critics early on during his time in north London. With a series of promising displays early in the season, Leno could prove the doubters wrong and vindicate Mislintat’s decision to commit such a hefty outlay at a position where some would argue Arsenal already had two starting-calibre players.

That said, Leno won’t be able to make that statement in the preseason. As he and his new teammates travel to Singapore to fave Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain this week, all eyes will be on Leno, many of which will be waiting for that fatal error to crucify him with. The problem for Leno is that even if he plays superbly in the preseason minutes that Unai Emery affords him, the criticisms that were made before still apply.

Few questioned his natural goalkeeping ability. He is a wonderfully adept shot-stopper with great reflexes and size to cover a large portion of the goal and command his penalty area from crosses and set pieces. His problems come in his inconsistencies. He cannot disprove those in the preseason because it is such a small sample size. Dependability is proven over an extended period, not one or two appearances.

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Leno has many critics. He also has many supporters. But neither will be able to add credence to their argument after the preseason matches. A true evaluation will come in time, which is unfortunate for Leno, who I am sure would have wanted a fast start to life at his new club.