Written by Jameson Gray

Bernd Leno has completed a permanent move to newly promoted Fulham. 

The 30-year-old goalkeeper made 125 appearances for the gunners in all competitions since joining from Bayer Leverkusen for £22.5M in 2018 and was a regular starter for them during the 19/20 season, and especially 20/21 where he became a real fan favourite at the emirates. During that campaign, the German racked up 16 clean sheets, and registered his 100th Arsenal appearance with a 3-2 victory over Benfica in the Europa league. And, his excellent form in red and white caught the eye of Germany National Team manager Hansi Flick, as Leno became a regular starter for his country, and was named in Germany’s squad for Euro 2020. 

Bernd Leno made some very memorable saves in an Arsenal Shirt, versus Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Burnley and Leicester City being the most popular ones. Unfortunately for the German, Regular first team football became very infrequent when Aaron Ramsdale joined the gunners in the summer of 2021. Leno made only 9 appearances as The Englishman took his place in between the sticks, and thanks to some impressive performances, Mikel Arteta had no plans on replacing him. And earlier on in the window, the American international Matt Turner arrived at Arsenal, who looks to be replacing Bernd Leno as Arsenal’s second-choice goalkeeper. Leno will be missed by many Arsenal Fans, and exits the emirates with an FA Cup and a Community Shield to his name. Leno is one of many players departing Arsenal in this window, he follows the likes of Dan Ballard, Zak Swanson, Alex Lacazette, Matteo Guendouzi, Dinos Mavrapanos and Omari Hutchinson, whilst Nuno Tavares and Auston Trusty have left on loan.

Leno joins the cottagers for a fee of around £3M with a further £5M in potential add-ons. The 30-year-old becomes Fulham’s 4th signing of the window, after the signings of Kevin Mbabu Joao Palhinha and Andreas Perreira, as head coach Marco Silva looks to keep Fulham in the top flight and avoid immediate relegation back down to the Championship. Leno is fit and should be available for the weekend, where the West London Club kick off their season against Liverpool on their return to the Premier League.