The German claims Unai Emery convinced him to join Gunners
Arsenal completed the signing of Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno on a 5 year contract earlier this month for a reported fee of around £19 million.
He was a mainstay for the German club in the past couple of seasons, making more than 300 appearances and has developed himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the world.He was named in Germany’s provisional squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but was not selected for the final 23-man squad.
Gunners new manager Unai Emery prioritized signing a new goalkeeper this summer as the future of David Ospina is unsure and Petr Cech struggled in the Premier League last season. The 26 year is expected to be the club’s first choice goalkeeper in the upcoming season.
The German International revealed that he spoke to Shkodran Mustafi before joining the Premier League giants.
‘I already know Musti and Mesut Ozil from the national team, plus Xhaka, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan from the Bundesliga,’ he told as quoted by Metro.
‘I talked to Musti about Arsenal many months ago. He said it’s a fantastic club with a fantastic stadium and fantastic fans.
‘I watched games on the TV in Germany and yes, Arsenal is a fantastic club.
‘I’ve known Musti for about 10 or 11 years. We grew up together in the youth national teams, the Under-17s through to the Under-21s.’
Leno also claimed that he had a talk with the former PSG manager and he cnvinced him to move to England. Asked whether he had spoken to the Spaniard, he replied:
‘Yes. Of course Arsene Wenger was always the coach of Arsenal but now it’s a new chapter for Arsenal.
‘I spoke to him and he said to me that he thinks that I’m a good goalkeeper and he wanted me to come to Arsenal.
‘So for me it was clear that the club and the coach want to sign me so I’m happy that all people in this club said that I’m a good goalkeeper and wanted to sign me.’
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