Having been dropped for Saturday’s win with Norwich, there has been much speculation about Bernd Leno’s future.
The Germany international was rumoured to be unhappy at the decision – hardly surprising – while other reports in Germany suggest his time on the sidelines is only temporary and he’ll be back between the sticks for the North London derby at the end of September.
Ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Burnley, Arteta seemed amused by all the talk but was quick to play down suggestions of a rift, talked up the German’s professionalism and made clear that competition for places is exactly what he wants.
“It’s the same in every position, we want them to make each other better,” said Arteta.
“We are competing against the opponent, we are not competing against each other here. We are just trying to bring players that can raise the level of their positions and the level of the team, the level of the club. This is the only reason [he made the change].
“Obviously, for Bernd, he wasn’t pleased when I communicated he wasn’t playing but he’s a top professional and a top person. He should be disappointed and he needs to support his teammates like they’ve all done with him every time he’s played. It’s exactly what he’s done.”
On why he went with Ramsdale: “We had to change something and Aaron has been coming here to try and make us better. We needed a result on the day and I decided to play him, that’s all.”
“I don’t know where they [the stories about team selection] are coming from but they are ahead of me.
“I think I am the one who picks the team at the weekend and sometimes I read things that I haven’t decided yet. They give me ideas at the most but nothing else. I haven’t made a decision for Saturday so imagine the north London derby!”
On Leno supposedly reacting badly, he added: “No, that’s not true. He responded. He can be frustrated but he was top with his teammates, in training with everything. That’s not true.
“I’ve been saying to the goalkeepers in the last two or three years…what we want to do is empower performance and ask them to train, behave and play the best possible way. How can I guarantee somebody to do something?
“It wouldn’t make sense with what we’re demanding them to do. It’s on a daily basis what you do. What you did three months ago in football, it doesn’t count. It’s what you do today and tomorrow.”
this reporters trying way to much 🙁
Makes a change! It seems Arteta has finally learned his lesson from when Martinez was here. It should have been the same then. Have two good keepers on the books, and Leno, earn your place back. Emi the shirt is yours if you keep performing. For Arteta to just blankly drop Leno now is worse than if he’s just let Emi keep his place back then, as he should have done. All he wanted was guaranteed 1st team football an I’m sure we could have raised the 20 million for Partey another way. But pleased Ramsdale has started well. He’s… Read more »
Some facts:
Emi had been at Arsenal a decade. Whether on loan or in training, he had never before shown he could be our first-choice keeper. He had a good run of games after Leno was injured. He wanted to be the first choice for a Premier League team, and was willing to leave for that to happen. Villa offered 20 million for him.
What exactly did Arsenal do wrong?
It was left with a keeper with three years left on his deal as opposed to one with five. Saying he hadn’t shown he could be our first choice keeper in training is a hell of a statement, unless you are present at the training ground. At any rate, his ability to be the number one would have been determined by the same guy who told us to buy Runnarson. Emi is clearly good enough to be a number one in the Premier League. A club our size should have their own players scouted well enough so it doesn’t learn… Read more »
Will you ever move on from the Emi stories, more than a year on? Makes you sound like a scratchy disc!
I thought he was a keeper, that’s all.
He must be a real sour kraut.
No. Let’s not start this again.
The wurst player has to train harder
It will be a stein on his reputation if he reacts badly to this
Hopefully that’s not the käse
That’s just cheesy
He can’t handle the Prussia.
He has to play if he wants to find a potential Bayer.
Ach, that last joke was really Prussian the limit.
Sadly for Leno, he was unable to keep clean scheisses.
Nein clean sheets.
NeinKein clean sheets.Leno needs to work on his Angelor Merkel Arteta won’t pick him.
Do we think that Leno is trying to engineer a move Audi here?
Fucking brilliant
“Don’t mention the war…..” 😉
Leno needs to act both more and less Kinder-like
Leno will be a Lidl bit disappointed at losing his place in the team, but needs to keep working hard in training Aldi long.
He’s professional and didn’t make a fuß.
He took a bad turn and had to take a shower
Some of these are absolute wank.
Essen mein Schwazer
Mikel just doesn’t fancy him anymore, he must have got the ich
I actually think Leno is on a de klein
Hell, I thought he had a bright future!?
Maybe he shouldn’t of Bernd his bridges
😁😁😁
It will be ok Bernd. When another Mann schafts you, the opportunity for redemption is normally nearby.
Ramsdale will deal better with Stoke-lite Burnley, so it was sensible to warm him up vs Norwich.
Wouldn’t be surprised if Leno comes back in for Spurs, but if Ramsdale hasn’t done anything wrong I don’t know why we’d drop him.
It’s almost as if having two good options in a position would be a good thing, who knew
Having seen Arteta’s tactics to date, he’ll probably give them a half each…… 🙂
I was disappointed when we dropped so much money on Ramsdale, I felt it harped back to excessive expenditure such as 80m on Pepe. However in hindsight, Ramsdale is really growing on me. I like his attitude and the fact he seems to be a bit of a character. I also have to clarify that Pepe is one of my favourite Arsenal players, maybe not as productive as you’d expect for 80m but entertaining as they come and a touch of a maverick. What do I know? 😅
It always frustrates me to see Pepe linked to his transfer fee because while we obviously overpaid and the club should be criticised (and the man responsible has been fired) it’s not his fault at all. He earns 130k a week, which is comparable to other 30-50m signings at Arsenal and elsewhere, and I think if you compare him to that bracket he performs very well. It’s like if you moved to a new company for £50k a year then got criticised every week for not making millions in sales because your boss spent half the department’s budget on recruiters… Read more »
I agree 100%
I really like Pepe. I think this season he’s shown a lot of promise and is improving a lot every game.
He’s still 26 years old, so plenty of time for him to really improve.
It’s also not Pepe’s fault that Arsenal were prepared to pay 72m for him.
If he had been signed for 20m I bet people would be singing his praises, but because he was a 72m signing he has to be the star player.
It was a deal that was inflated terribly by those in charge of making the deal happen, not Pepe.
I still think he’s a good player and has produced some fine moments whilst in an Arsenal shirt and I hope he continues to do so.
Wasn’t pepe 70 mil?
72 million pounds to be precise
And one pound, don’t forget the one pound!
Options of Ramsdale or Leno, is much healthier than options of Leno or Runarsson
Direct competition is healthy, we need them both competing and pushing each other to be better
These are the types of problems we want
“How can I guarantee somebody to do something?” Yeah, Emi. How can we guarantee you first team football?
We cannot based on performance of 10 games. Stop living in past and move on. Emi wanted a move, Arsenal got the money, fair deal.
EMI wanted the number one spot or a move, Leno is at fault here for pushing EMI out and then crying about a move less than 12 months later.
Hindsight is a cruel ability
Exactly— A balls up of epic proportions by arteta and edu—pissed another 24million down the pan on a keeper who probably will be of the same quality as leno.
Most fans could see that Emi was better then leno yet arteta now has to die on his sword and hope he gets some money for leno.
We got £20m for Emi, what does Leno’s future transfer fee have anything to do with that?
Huge fan of Emi but it’s just a fact that Leno played at a higher level for longer for Arsenal than Emi ever did & he was at the club for a decade.
Hmmm.
More fallout from the sale of the bloke whose name you can no longer mention on here (no, not Mesut, the other one) lest certain folk begin to wet the bed and start commanding that we all ‘get over it’ – when our so-called ‘settled’ squad clearly still hasn’t.
Fuck it, I’m gonna press a few buttons.
We sold the wrong keeper and should have made it financially viable for He Who Must Not Be Mentioned to stay.
The Goalkeeper Formally Known As Emi Martinez
I don’t always agree with you on here mate.
but clearly there must be something in this take if we both agree
Ah yes, if I can find a stranger on the internet with the same opinion as me, then it must be sensible.
If there was a buyer at the time for Leno, then it wouldn’t have been surprising to see him leave instead of Martinez. But Leno has always been most likely to move abroad and not to another Premier League club, so with very little money being splashed by clubs outside of England, there was logic in taking the money they got for Martinez.
The club has certainly made its share of dumb decisions over the years, but I don’t think it’s fair to act as if these are always straightforward decisions that they simply cock up.
Dress it up however you want, mate.
Whichever way you look at it, Martinez being sold to Villa was an almighty cock-up.
It’s a lack of foresight mixed with an abundance of nepotism & favouritism within the club leadership that’s fundamentally responsible for our (many) mishaps. Mikel Arteta backs his friend, Iñaki Cana (who Leno doesn’t like working with) over Andy Woodman (who Leno does like working). Surprise, surprise Leno doesn’t want to renew his contract after they let his preferred GK coach go😮 Josh Kroenke, son of the club’s owner, is too prideful to admit his error in judgement. He still refuses to cut ties with the inexperienced coach that he personally favoured over more qualified candidates. Said coach has since… Read more »
Sometimes I feel bad for Leno. He is not a bad keeper. But the instability of our defence in the last few years have regressed him too.
Have you ever played in goal? Even if it was jumpers for goalposts when you were a kid?
If so, now imagine Mustafi and Luiz in front of you.
Exactly….