Arsenal and Bernd Leno: Waiting to be convinced

Bernd Leno has been Arsenal’s starting goalkeeper for three months, taking Petr Cech’s place in late September. I am still waiting to be convinced.

When Arsenal signed Bernd Leno in the summer for approximately £20 million, it was presumed that they had found their long-term solution to their goalkeeping problems. Petr Cech, while still adequate, was ageing and decreasing in quality and consistency. The time had come to look to a successor.

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Rightly or wrongly, Leno was the man that Sven Mislintat and Raul Sanllehi identified. Initially, Unai Emery seemingly disagreed. Petr Cech opened the season as the starter. But a hamstring injury in September handed Leno his opportunity. Ever since that time, the German has been the number one.

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Now, at the end of December, Leno has been the starter for three months. He has made 13 Premier League appearances, 12 of them starts, and is now the starting option between the sticks. There were some questions when he first arrived. Although talented and vastly experienced for his age, he had not continued to develop from his young age and committed some rather ghastly errors. £20 million for an inconsistent goalkeeper seemed steep.

So I was extremely interested to watch Leno play when he was eventually given his chance. Would he handle the added physicality of the Premier League, a competition that he had never played in before? Could he iron out the simple mistakes with more experience and a new coach? Is Leno the long-term solution to Arsenal’s goalkeeping problems? These were just some of the many questions that I was asking myself when he was first fielded.

Now, 12 starts later, I remain unconvinced. He has not made any truly glaring errors. He did not cover himself in glory for Southampton’s winner two weeks ago. He has looked uncomfortable from crosses and set-pieces, fumbling several high balls, especially when put under pressure. Even in the Boxing Day draw with Brighton and Hove Albion, I am not so sure that Leno can be completely absolved of all blame.

These are not the errors that he was making fairly regularly in Germany. They are not quite as glaring. And I am not sure that they are bad enough to attribute him the blame for conceding. They simply leave an element of doubt in the back of the mind that Leno might not be the elite goalkeeper that Arsenal were hoping he would develop into when they signed him.

His work in collecting high balls from corner, freekicks and crosses is perhaps the most concerning element of his game. Aerial attacks tend to be unique to England. Teams in other countries obviously cross the ball, but there is a special physicality and regularity to the aerial attack of many teams in England. Like when David de Gea signed for Manchester United and struggled, can Leno now learn and adapt?

I am not criticising Leno. At least not too intensely. I am merely stating that I am yet to be convinced. The jury, on Leno, is most certainly still out.