5 things you probably didn’t know about Arsenal’s new signing Bernd Leno

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Arsenal’s post-Wenger era is shaping up nicely as the club announced their second signing of the summer after Stephan Lichtsteiner. The German International Bernd Leno signed from Bayer Leverkusen for a reported fee of £19.3 million.

The fee makes the 26 year old the sixth most expensive goalkeeper in history but that will surely change by the end of the summer.

Leno came through the Academy of Stuttgart but made his professional debut in 2011 with Bayer Leverkusen. He has been Leverkusen’s first choice goalkeeper since then and has played 304 games for the club in the last seven seasons.

He will be joining a couple of compatriots and several other former Bundesliga players at his new club. On that note, take a look at five things you may not know about Arsenal’s new signing.

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#5 Was the youngest German goalkeeper to play in the UEFA Champions League

Leno was initially signed by Leverkusen on a five month loan deal from Stuttgart in 2011 and only four days after he arrived, he made his Bundesliga debut. Incredibly he took over as Leverkusen’s first choice keeper from the experienced German International Rene Adler, while he was still at the club.

Leno went on to keep clean sheets in his first three Bundesliga games, making him only the third goalkeeper in Bundesliga history to keep a clean sheet in his first three Bundesliga games.

Almost a month after his professional debut, on 13 September 2011, Leno started Leverkusen’s Champions League game against Chelsea and in the process became the youngest ever German goalkeeper to play in a Champions League match.

The new Arsenal man’s record was broken by Timon Wellenreuther in 2015, when he played in goal against Real Madrid.

#4 Error prone

There is no doubt that Arsenal have signed a fantastic goalkeeper entering his prime years, but Leno has a history of making costly errors.

In fact, since the start of the 2015-16 Bundesliga season, only Oliver Baumann (10) has committed more errors leading to an opposition goal than Leno (9).

Leno started Germany’s first game of the 2017 Confederations Cup against Australia and made two mistakes in an eventual 3-2 win. After that game, Marc-André ter Stegen of Barcelona took his place in the side till the end of the tournament.

One of Leno’s most famous mistakes happened in a Bundesliga game against Augsburg when he completely misjudged a simple back pass from Jonathan Tah and let the ball roll past him into the net.

#3 An admirer of Iker Casillas and a supporter of Real Madrid

Like many young goalkeepers around the world, Leno is an admirer of former Real Madrid and Spain captain Iker Casillas as well. The German international considers Casillas his role model.

“I used to watch a lot of Casillas growing up, he’s perhaps peaked now, but he won it all and has been unbelievably consistent. He’s calm and no-nonsense, I’m the same. I don’t have to make a show of myself to stand out.”

Leno’s admiration for Casillas also made him a Real Madrid supporter and he even dreamed of playing for Real Madrid. In fact, Los Blancos is the team he plays with on the FIFA gaming series.

“I always used to play as Real Madrid, Casillas was a big reason for that, but Real were the team I supported growing up. As a kid, I often dreamed of playing for them, taking over from Casillas.”

#2 Penalty specialist

Petr Cech had an abysmal penalty record. The veteran failed to save 14 penalties since joining Arsenal and no team conceded more penalties in that time.

Thankfully for Arsenal fans, in Leno they have a penalty specialist.

During the 2013-14 season, Leno saved five out of eight penalties he faced, including four in a row! Only the late Thomas Zander of 1860 Munich saved more consecutive penalties (six).

For Leno, saving a penalty is like scoring a goal for a striker. He has stopped nine different players from the spot during his Bundesliga stint including Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino and Newcastle United striker Joselu.