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Arsenal in battle to sign £22m Bundesliga star, player told he can leave

By on June 10, 2018

According to the Mirror, Arsenal are facing a battle with Premier League rivals Liverpool to sign Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno this summer.

New head coach Unai Emery is expected to be extremely busy in the transfer market this summer and a new number one to replace Petr Cech is a priority. Cech is now 36 and he made several errors last season while David Ospina is expected to leave after failing to establish himself at the Emirates so we desperately need to sign a new keeper.

We’ve been strongly linked with a move for Leno and reports last month said head of recruitment Sven Mislintat had opened negotiations with Leverkusen about a potential deal. Leno has been a regular in the German squad but he was left out of Joachim Low’s plans this summer. For those who are going bet on the World Cup with NetBet, Germany are many bookmakers favourites to retain the trophy so it’s understandable that Leno has missed out given the amount of talent available to Low.

However, the 26-year-old stopper has put that disappointment behind him and is eyeing a move this summer, and Leverkusen confirmed last week he can leave if a club meets his buy out clause after they signed Lukas Hradecky as his replacement.

It looked like Arsenal were well placed to secure the German international’s signature, however, we’ll now face stiff competition as Bild, via the Mirror, claims that Liverpool have now entered the chase.

The German publication says Liverpool have tabled a £22m offer for Leno after identifying him as a cheaper alternative to the likes of Jan Oblak and Alisson Becker.

Jurgen Klopp also needs a new number one after Loris Karius’s horror show in the Champions League final defeat to Madrid and they can offer Leno something we can’t – Champions League football.

We’ll have to wait and see how much truth there is behind these reports as there is so much speculation flying around but if Liverpool have bid for Leno then I hope Arsenal don’t waste any time in matching their offer.

We have to sign a new keeper this summer and Leno is one of the most reliable on the market having kept 10 clean sheets in 33 games for Leverkusen last season.

MORE: Arsenal table £26m winger bid

His reported price-tag of around £22m-£24m is also within our budget so fingers crossed we don’t just sit back and watch him join Liverpool without a fight.