Arsenal’s Bernd Leno is the ideal ‘modern goalkeeper’ according to Shkodran Mustafi

Waiting game | Bernd Leno was a £19m summer signing for Arsenal but has yet to make his competitive debut for the club
Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images
James Olley22 August 2018

Shkodran Mustafi believes Bernd Leno is the ideal “modern goalkeeper” and will thrive when given the opportunity to make his Premier League debut.

The Gunners signed Leno from Bayer Leverkusen for £19.2million in June but he had to settle for a place on the bench in their opening two matches, against Manchester City and Chelsea.

New boss Unai Emery’s insistence on playing out from the back has placed fresh demands on veteran Petr Cech, who seemed to struggle in possession against City, but also made important saves in both matches.

It remains to be seen whether Emery will stick with Cech for Saturday’s home game against West Ham, but Mustafi claims his Germany international team-mate is ready to seize his chance if called upon at Emirates Stadium.

“I know Bernd very well because we played together since the Under-15s German team, so I have known him for a long time,” said the centre-back. “He is a brilliant goalkeeper. He has everything a modern keeper needs: good feet, good hands and he has personality.”

Leno, 26, is one of five new summer acquisitions and the only one yet to see any competitive action. Matteo Guendouzi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos started both games, Lucas Torreira has twice come on as a substitute and Stephan Lichtsteiner was called into action after Ainsley Maitland-Niles was injured against City.

Emery has not been afraid to shake up the established hierarchy left over from Arsene Wenger’s tenure.

Aaron Ramsey was left out of the starting line-up against Chelsea, while Mesut Ozil found himself in the unfamiliar position of being substituted with the Gunners level in the match, the first time he has been taken off in a non-winning position since January, 2017.

There were reports yesterday that Ramsey’s omission had caused consternation in the dressing room as players adjust to Emery’s methods, but Mustafi insists the new faces have helped focus minds. “Competition is something that brings you to the next level, because if you have no competition and you know you are starting week in, week out, it takes a little bit of the quality [away],” he said. “When you know you have someone standing on your toes, you are going to be try and be better and better every week.

“Competition is right but it has to be healthy. For us it is because we are in a good team spirit. Everyone is quite happy with the people we have in the changing room. There’s no people fighting each other or something like this. There is competition but healthy competition and that is something that is going to bring us forward.”

Arsenal have not lost their opening two matches of the season since 1992 — when they were beaten by Norwich and Blackburn — but there have been signs of encouragement in both matches. “We can be positive about what we did,” said Mustafi. “If we keep doing what the coach asks, results are going to come.”

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