Arsenal have confirmed that Bernd Leno has joined Fulham in a deal reportedly worth up to £8 million.
The 30-year-old leaves Arsenal after four years having made 125 appearances for the Gunners.
Recruited from Bayer Leverkusen to provide competition to Petr Cech, the Germany international was the second signing of the Unai Emery era having been scouted by Sven Mislintat.
While Leno started the 2018/19 season on the bench, he soon established himself as the club’s first choice keeper after making his debut off the bench in a 2-0 win over Watford.
Leno retained that status for most of the 2019/20 season until knee ligament damage ruled him out of the tail-end of the Covid-interrupted campaign.
He watched from the stands as replacement Emi Martinez helped the Gunners to FA Cup glory against Chelsea; the second final in a row he missed against the Blues after sitting out the Europa League defeat the season before.
Despite Martinez’s heroics in goal, Arteta opted to sell the Argentine meaning Leno was restored between the sticks for the 2020/21 season. He ended up playing a lot of football – over 4,400 minutes – but there was little talk of the player being offered a new deal.
Last summer’s acquisition of Aaron Ramsdale hinted that the club were moving in a new direction and sure enough, within four Premier League games, the ex-Sheffield United was given a chance that he seized.
Leno never complained about his lot, always kept his head down and continued to be a reliable backup. His last appearance came in March when he kept a clean sheet against Aston Villa.
A move to newly-promoted Fulham should give him the first team football he craves and a chance to win back his place in Germany’s squad ahead of the World Cup in Qatar later this year.
We wish Bernd all the best.
Good luck Bernd..such a professional..
Fulham are getting a very good keeper.
I guess he was all bernd out at Arsenal.
(Sorry)
Model Pro. Thanks and good luck.
I like the guy but virtually every comment on here seems to have missed the fact that the reason we signed Ramsdale was that Leno wasn’t willing to extend his contract, no doubt with eyes on a bosman to Bayern. In acting to replace him we rather called his bluff and have decreased his attractiveness in the eyes of potential suitors. I’m sure if he could turn back the clock and do things differently he would, but the club wouldn’t such is the success Ramsdale has been.
All the best Leno. Faithful servant, consummate professional and all round good guy. Hope to see you in the German squad for the world cup.
Bought for 25m when his cachet was pretty low. Played excellently for us pretty much consistently. Now worth 8m. I’ll never understand football transfer fees! I don’t actually blame Arsenal for this. We’ve held out as long as is possible to extract the best value. His wages were a worry for me as regards selling to the continent so I suppose we can be glad he’s off the books. It’s just mental that his value is 30% of what it was when he signed. I just hope we have given Turner a modest wage packet or we run the risk… Read more »
£3 million up front is ludicrous.
Kind of a wash when combined with what we got form emi Martinez. At this point it’s not the fee so much as not having to pay out 100k per week payroll. Beyond that transfer fees are about potential and players are treated like depreciating assets.
think Arsenal did this so that Leno could stay in London itself. Leno took care of the club when he was here and didn’t get to start games. now, it’s the club’s chance to return the favour though it costs some transfer money! Both Leno and Arsenal kept it very classy! I guess that is more than okay and we can live with that low transfer fee for this one.
Can see the same happening with Hector always represented himself and the club well.
Wasn’t he a free signing or am I dreaming?
I really don’t get this love fest for Leno. He had 2 decent seasons then couldn’t win his place back from Emi who was the better goalie. During that time he moaned his bollocks off about wanting to leave. And everybody on here wanted him to go! But suddenly he’s now a fkn legend?!! Nah.
100%. Leno is a good not great goalie. He struggled for consistency, he wasn’t commanding enough and he had a tendency to create too many juicy rebounds. There is a reason Martinez held him out and then we moved to replace him with Ramsdale. He’s a solid player, a consummate professional, but absolutely he wasn’t good enough for a team with higher ambitions than top half and maybe Europa. The fact it’s Fulham signing him for 8M quid (basically unrivalled) says it all. Good signing for them and good luck to him.
Look what was standing in front of him
Look what was standing behind them? 6 of one, half a dozen of the other…
The player would only go to a club in London, I’m sure we could’ve got more if he’d been prepared to move further away. Players have a big say in where they’ll go. Unfortunately for us the only team in London looking for a starting goalkeeper is skint Fulham, probably hoping that he’ll keep them up. We’re being more sensible about salaries now, that Runarsson deal was a travesty, we’ve got another two years of him and I can’t see anyone taking him off our hands.
I hear the London argument. But I think personally we were lucky to get a premier league club interested. No club on the continent would’ve been able to pay £8m and his wages.
My Sunday league team are trying to sign RR as our second string goalie
We are in the Mourinho era of managers. All managers look at the squad and decide whom they want it and whom they want out.
Any money spent or earned by the club doesn’t matter to manager, only the final position where the club finishes.
A wish to stay in London, when Leicester are looking for a keeper stopped another club bidding. High wages makes a move abroad almost impossible.
I’m not too disappointed with this one, as Bernd gave us a lot over some difficult years. Losing his place last year must have been a bitter pill and he dealt with it better than most players could hope to.
Faithful servant??!! Oh fk me that’s funny. Tell Emi that one…
Emi is gone. He was good for us for one season and held the club to ransom by agitating. Get over it.
I liked Emi too but he’s at Villa now and they’re shit.
Not even 1 season; 10 games.
And he still can’t help himself from slagging us off. Probably because he massively regrets choosing to spend his prime years at Villa, rather than a 90% chance of being Arsenal’s no.1.
He patiently waits half his career away on loan or as 3rd choice, and when it finally looks like he’s got the no.1 spot in his hands, he agitates and leaves for a mid table club. Crazy decision
All the best. Made some amazing saves
Good luck Bernd! Proper professional, can totally understand why he wanted to move on.
Wishing him all the best (except Vs Arsenal)
COYG
Thanks for all your efforts Bernd, best of luck at Fulham.
When the official website @arsenal calls you ‘A model Professional’… What a man!
Good Luck Leno!!
All the Best Bernd!!!
Great example of how you should act if you lose your place in the team. He’s too good to be a back up goalkeeper. Hope he does well at Fulham which I’m sure he will. We will miss you, thanks and good luck!
Lol. Some short memories on here. Dude was agitating for a move for a long time even before ramsdale arrived when he couldn’t win his place back from Emi.
“Never complained about his lot…”…uhm, don’t think so Andrew…go back 2 years and read his comments.
A reasonable keeper for us in the early part of his contract but he was shit dealing with crosses and couldn’t play the ball out with his feet. Cost us a number of a games before we got ramsdale in. And Emi was better.
Mate, goals are usually scored from a mistake, and the keeper is the one who is the first to be blamed. You can say “Cost us a number of a games” about almost every goalie.
And some more than others…
£3m + £1m based on PL apps + £2m if stay in PL once + £2m if twice. Totals £8m after add-ons.
This is absolutely shocking, I genuinely hope Fulham get relegated now. Dusty club.
Too emotional again 😀 Do try to keep calm, good man, cutting off your nose to spite your face.
I’m going to stop now Officer Scwibble, it’s ok😀
This is getting sad now P.D.
Are you worried about Walmart’s long term vitality?
Cant say anything bad about him. Very professional till the end. Wishing him all the best except when he plays us.
That being said, the breakdown of the deal that Orny tweeted is just horrendous. We are practically giving him away for free to a fellow PL team that should theoretically have more money than overseas clubs. Some people have talked about getting his wages off the books but we cant keep giving that excuse every time. We are just plainly bad at sellng our players.
All the best Bernd! You came, saw and helped us the best you could. Your shot-stopping abilities behind an inconsistent defence at times were the only thing between us and real disaster. For that, you cemented your place as a true gooner. Nothing ever will erase that. Best of luck but not against us tho!
£3 million up front for a proven keeper is mental. Especially when they paid Manure around £8 million for a player that never played for them. Transfers are madness.
Yeah I thought when they were previewing this as potentially 8-10 upfront that it was already a good deal for Fulham. Maybe someone else needs to be in charge of the outgoings…
2m add on if they stay up once, another 2m if they stay up twice. Both of which will probably never happen – so we are never likely to get anywhere close to 8m.
100% agreed Bobby – I assumed 8m up front & thought that was a good deal for Fulham. I just don’t get it
Anyway – the very best of luck Bernd. Good keeper & seems like a top lad.
Him wanting to stay in London and having a year left screwed us, basically. Fulham knew nobody else was in for him, we didn’t need him for the upcoming season, and in a year he could go for free. Awful bargaining position for us.
Yep, we were hamstrung for sure, so we’ve signed Turner for £4.7m and sold Leno for £3m although the wages will be significantly different, all the same I can’t help thinking if we might have been better off just keeping Leno and passing on Turner?
Hit the nail on the head allezkev
Hard to argue with your logic. The villa game last season proof enough of the value he would have to us .
You’ve got to take into consideration if Leno wants to stay as well. I’m pretty sure he’d like to play consistently especially in a world cup year.
Even if we do keep him, he’ll be gone for nothing in a year, and we’ll be shopping for a backup. Might as well nip the issue in the bud right now.
That’s right. He has not played much for a year, and it’s hard to do it again with him for another year. He has a contract, but they should consider the mutual benefit.
Leno would’ve left for free next year. Or, he gets a new contract which would be £20m over 4 years. Turner is a significantly cheaper option and is a greater prospect. That’s not to say he’ll make it, but we know Leno just wasn’t at the level when it came to distribution. A brilliant shot stopper tho, best of luck and I’m really looking forward to see him performing well whilst getting peppered with shots at Fulham!
Not sure what could be achieved if Leno stayed for that final year. Arsenal would still have to find a replacement. Don’t think he would want to extend as backup, leaving alone the wage issue.
Must be the wages, £5m a year to be factored…
A consummate professional he was for us; I wish him nothing more than the very best, except, of course, when he is playing us.
But if BBC’s report is true, £3m down payment and £5m in add ons is beyond appalling for such a good keeper. He is barely 30, and that is equivalent to a 24 year old outfield player.
Really like Bernd. Excellent goalkeeper and a consummate professional. The double save against that lot at Wembley was up there with Seaman v Sheffield United and Ramsdale v Leister as one of the greatest saves I’ve seen by an Arsenal keeper. Thanks Bernd and all the best.
*Leicester
There was one made by Mad Jens from Bellamy in a 0-0 draw up in Newcastle towards the end of the Invincible season too, which doesn’t get talked about enough. A simply sensational save, up there with any of those.
Oh Mad Jens, my all time favorite!
Honestly, Ramsdale pulled off 3-4 of those type of saves in his first season. Leno is not an excellent goal-keeper, which is why he’s now at Fulham. He’s not bad, but come on, he wasn’t good enough. Plain and simple. If he was he’d still be our #1 and we wouldn’t have dropped a massive amount on Ramsdale, who showed in 1 season just what we were lacking with Leno between the sticks. Sure, thanks Bernd, but people are fantasizing about how “excellent” he was. Great shot stopper – no doubt, but there is so much more to being a… Read more »
Great goalkeeper. Not sure why we couldn’t keep him as back up. Served the club v well.
Disappointed with the fee, especially if you consider we are after tielemans and Jasper is about to leave Leicester ..
that said, great pro and good luck to him
For all everybody is talking about Leno having the perfect reaction to being dropped, his attitude really hasn’t helped his career. 18 months ago he was in the Germany squad and the deserved number one and probably in line for a future captain’s role at a massive European club. Now he’s probably going to be playing in the championship on lower wages this time next year, without having really done anything wrong. Weird.
Not sure him being dropped was anything to do with his attitude. It was obviously due to the fact arteta likes a keeper who can pass the game a bit. I think there’s a case to be made that leno should have been starting at the end of last season, ramsdales form tailed off dramatically. It looked to me he wasn’t fully fit. We’re swapping a very competent keeper who is limited with the ball at his feet, for a keeper who doesn’t look very competent and looks very limited with the ball at his feet and losing money on… Read more »
Agree, KSE must have pushed the agenda. I wouldn’t be surprised if we are on the lookout for a better keeper next window or integrate young Hein or Arthur as second choice.
Hein is very good, he deserves a chance.
Wishing you all the best, Leno. Excel
Sane here Bernd, PowerPoint
Word.
Always keep a positive outlook, my man
Outlook is good
I haven’t seen much of Turner but to me it feels like a downgrade from Leno. Sad to see Leno go. With Leno and Ramsdale, we had two great keepers both worthy/capable of being #1! Sad to see him go and for such a little fee. I hope Turner proves me wrong and is not the kind of a player who is happy being num 2 at the Arsenal!
Top GK and bloke. Single-handedly kept us in games in the Emery-era. Hopefully, he will get to keep playing top level football even if Fulham goes down. I suspect that’s why the contract length with Fulham is unusually short for his age.
All the best!
For me, he was one of the best goalkeepers that we’ve ever had. A great professional and a real talent. Fulham have got a real bargain. It’s a shame we can’t keep him as our number two.
Nice to see the club ruthlessly offloading unwanted players: still a few more to go.
But we need three signings before the window closes: a striker, a midfielder and a left-back. If not no top-four
We have the left back in Zinchenko, who is also a midfielder. A striker would be nice but I can’t see one coming in. If anyone comes in I think it’s a midfielder and/or a winger. Personally I’d like another right back but it’s probably Ben White playing there this season with Tomiyasu.
Sorry: I meant a RIGHT-BACK
Get with the narrative fat man, we beat Sevilla 6-0, its all unicorns puppy dogs and candy floss. Never mind the last game we played when Newcastle humped us. Paddy Vieira won’t be ready for the 2-3 -5. Other teams aren’t allowed to do tactics only us.
“It is understood the deal for Fulham to sign Bernd Leno is worth £3m up front, with a further £1m based on Premier League appearances & then £2m based on staying in the Premier League for one season & another £2m for a second season in the top flight. ”
Hmmmm interesting deal.
All the best Leno
Great keeper and top professional happy he’s staying in the premier league. Wish him all the best 🙌
He was our runner-up Player of the season three years ago. Great goalkeeper, great professional, great personality. All the best, Bernd!
Good luck Bernd, just not against us. A top professional.
I recall when he signed there was all this talk of him being able to play out from the back but it seems Ramsdale is more advanced in that regard with those fizzing through balls. Bernd will do really well at Fulham and he and Mitrovic could make the difference for them.
Thank you for your contributions, Bernd. Single handedly kept us from losing some of the Emery era games with wonder saves. Only the very best in Fulham and hopefully in the World Cup.
Could be a savvy move. He’ll be able to really show his stuff at a club like Fulham and could be one of their stars. And in a couple of years a properly big team can come in for him. Shades of Van Der Sar at Fulham.
Manuel Nueur is 36 years old now. Bayern could be looking to replace him in the next two to three seasons…….
Quality keeper, and I think underrated because he really did make a lot of saves look easier than they were. His positioning, footwork, balance and reflexes are flawless. Never over or under anticipates, never caught with his weight on the wrong foot. Never sent the wrong way or left standing like a statue (except penalties and deflections) And personally I thought his ability with ball at feet was good enough to play in this team. You have to remember that he spent most of his time playing with comparatively rigid, error prone ball players like Mustafi, Sokratis, Holding, Bellerin, Kolasinac,… Read more »
All the best Burt
Fulham have got a bargain. Good luck to a top pro