Arsenal have agreed a deal with German goalkeeper Bernd Leno to join from Bayer 04 Leverkusen for a reported €22 million (£19.3m).
The 26-year-old has made more than 230 appearances in the Bundesliga for the 2002 Champions League runners-up.
Leno has won six caps for the German national team and was part of Joachim Low’s 27-amn preliminary squad for the 2018 World Cup, but didn’t make the final cut following the recovery of Manuel Neuer.
The goalkeeper Tweeted his excitement for joining the Premier League giants:
“Happy and proud to play for this great club Arsenal in the future! I’ll do my best and I’m looking forward to the start of the new season as a Gunner.”
Arsenal have confirmed that the deal is “subject to the completion of regulatory processes“.
A statement from Bayer Leverkusen said that Bernd Leno had signed a “long-term contract” with Arsenal.
The Gunners currently have Petr Cech and David Ospina on their books as current first-team goalkeepers but Leno can expect to be the new number one for the start of the 2018-19 Premier League season.
New manager Unai Emery has already signed right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner on a free transfer as he looks to strengthen an Arsenal defence that was vulnerable in their final campaign under Arsene Wenger.
In 2011, Bernd Leno became the youngest goalkeeper in Champions League history when he faced Chelsea aged 19 years and 193 days. The 2-0 defeat versus the fellow Premier League side were the first goals he’d conceded in his professional career after three consecutive clean sheets to start his life in the German Bundesliga.
Leno went on to make his debut for the German national team in 2016 and was part of the squad that won the 2017 Confederations Cup.
