Arsenal: Bernd Leno improvement just the start

Bernd Leno spoke this week about how he endured a tough start to grow into Arsenal’s number one goalkeeper. That improvement, though, must just be the start.

I was a little nervous when Arsenal signed Bernd Leno last summer. A talented goalkeeper, no doubt, and for a semi-reasonable price. But a game littered with mental errors, something that Arsenal fans have grown accustomed to seeing from their shot-stoppers, and inconsistencies is a little concerning, to say the least.

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However, after his first season as the number one, I think it would be fair to say that Leno has largely answered his critics. And this week, the German international has been discussing his time at his new club, specifically the first few months of the season when he had to sit behind Petr Cech.

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Leno, speaking with DAZN DACH, said:

"“It was a hard time. I think goalkeeper is a special position because as a striker you can come on for the last 20 minutes but a goalkeeper you don’t change too much, so it was a very tough time. But the manager and the goalkeeper coach both told me to stay calm and focus on training. I played some games in the Europa League and Carabao Cup and it was good to have these games to improve and get a feeling for the defence.”"

It certainly was surprising to not see him start from the off. Petr Cech is a capable goalkeeper, of course, but Leno was not signed for £20 million to sit on the bench. However, as the season progressed, Leno established himself as the unquestioned starter, his performances growing as the year went on.

In the same interview, he spoke about how those early months helped him settle into his new surroundings and prepare him for the season ahead:

"“It was also good for my team-mates because when you come to another club and another country, everything is new. I started a little bit later in pre-season as well and everything is just a little bit bigger. So it was maybe good to learn and to see in training and also get confidence with your team-mates. In the end it was maybe not too bad to first be second choice in the Premier League.”"

But for all of the growth that he showed during his first season at the club, which I think is fair to partly attribute to the period he spent sitting behind Cech to open the campaign, as Leno highlights, to fully dispel the doubts cast over him when he arrived, it must be just the start of his time in north London.

The primary criticism of his game was the natural inconsistencies occur through mindnumbing errors. Well, the only way to answer this objection is to play at a high standard for an extended period of time. No one is questioning his capability or his high-level, one-off performances. It is the ability to perform week in, week out, and that can only be proven by maintaining a high level of performance every season.

It has been a very promising start to life in the Premier League for Leno, despite sitting on the bench for the first few months. But this must be only the start. Consistency is now the key, and that requires extended excellence.