On Tuesday 2nd August, the Club confirmed the signing of Bernd Leno from Arsenal for an undisclosed fee, on a three-year deal, with a Club option to extend by a further 12 months.

Having come through the ranks at VfB Stuttgart, Leno joined Bayer Leverkusen on loan at the age of 19, and immediately established himself as the club’s number one.

Leno performed at a level that belied his young age, becoming only the third goalkeeper in Bundesliga history to secure clean sheets in his first three matches, before breaking the record for the youngest ‘keeper to appear in the Champions League shortly after.

Leverkusen soon made the deal permanent, and Leno went on to enjoy seven excellent seasons at the BayArena, making 304 appearances and keeping 100 clean sheets.

The lowest the club finished, in six of those seven campaigns, was fifth.

His consistency in Germany prompted Arsenal to bring Leno to London for a fee reported to be north of £20m ahead of the 2018/19 campaign.

Leno quickly displaced Petr Cech between the sticks, and ended his first season at the club with a Europa League runner-up medal, before finishing second in the club’s player of the season vote a year later.

He departed the Emirates with plenty of Premier League experience under his belt, and also claimed 37 clean sheets in his 125 appearances across all competitions.

Manuel Neuer’s stranglehold on the national team’s No.1 jersey has meant opportunities for other German goalkeepers has been limited over the years, but Leno has still represented his country on nine occasions, and was in the squad for the 2020 European Championship.