Arsenal: Bernd Leno doing what Petr Cech never could

Petr Cech was meant to solve Arsenal’s goalkeeping crisis. He never did. But now his successor, Bernd Leno, is, and he isn’t getting the recognition he deserves.

It had been a while since Arsenal possessed a reliable goalkeeper. Not only did they lack an elite, difference-making shot-stopper for the best part of a decade; they didn’t even possess a dependable option who could at least be relied upon to make standard saves and command his penalty area.

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While Jens Lehmann was superb in his early years, as he entered the latter stages of his career, his craziness began to take over and he was unable to provide value in other ways. Then, for close to eight years, an amalgamation of Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski, and Wojciech Szczesny manned the goalkeeper position.

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None of them were either good enough, dependable enough or ready. While Fabianski and Szczesny have since departed and impressed at Swansea and West Ham and Roma and Juventus respectively, during these wretched goalkeeping years in north London, mistakes were too frequent and the team was routinely undermined by their performances.

And so, in 2015, Arsene Wenger jumped at the chance to sign a dependable, consistent goalkeeper, someone with experience and nous, a proven, elite shot-stopper for over a decade in the Premier League: Chelsea’s Petr Cech.

There was only one problem with the move: age. Cech was 33 at the time. While that not is especially old for a goalkeeper, there were physical signs that he might be losing the same spring and explosion that he previously possessed. He was never the same at Arsenal as he had been at Chelsea. Still decent, yes, and certainly an improvement on the mess prior, but not the elite goalkeeper that Wenger had wanted, or perhaps even expected.

After Wenger’s departure in 2018, Arsenal recognised the decline in Cech and wanted to invest in the future of the goalkeeper position. They extensively scouted German goalkeeper Bernd Leno, believing that he could indeed be the solution to a decade-plus-long problem.

Initially, Leno struggled to force his way into the team. Unai Emery preferred Cech, curiously. But after an injury thrust Cech to the sidelines, Leno became the number one. He has never looked back. There were some growing pains early on. Poor mistakes against Liverpool and Southampton punctuating a tumultuous beginning to being the starter. But as his first year in England progressed, Leno grew in confidence and character. He commanded his defence with more urgency and clarity, he cut down on his errors, and he began pulling off tremendous saves that his athletic profile suggested he was capable of.

This year, as the unquestioned starter, he has only built on those performances. He is yet to make a glaring error, stands tall under the barrage of crosses and set-pieces that comes in English football, and is still pulling off tremendous saves that few other goalkeepers in the league can replicate. His one-handed tip from Kevin de Bruyne’s curling effort on Sunday was a perfect illustration of the type of saves he has been performing.

Arsenal waded through the mire of goalkeeping purgatory for the best part of a decade. Cech was meant to put an end to it. He did, to an extent. But it has been Leno that has truly solved the Gunners’ goalkeeping fiasco.