According to German newspaper Bild, Arsenal have reached an agreement with Bayer Leverkusen for the transfer of goalkeeper Bernd Leno, with the official announcement expected to come Tuesday. The transfer fee for the 26-year-old was reported to be in the neighborhood of €25 million.
Leno, a German international, is not with the defending World Champions at the World Cup right now as he was one of Joachim Low’s final roster cuts.
Leno has been the #1 though at Leverkusen for the past six seasons, where he has been quite impressive. Leno will become the second signing of the Unai Emery era, behind only Stephan Lichsteiner, and one can infer that his addition to the squad means that Petr Cech will be on his way out.
Cech is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career, and although his contract runs until next year, he may prefer an escape route over being demoted to a back-up. Current reserve goalkeeper David Ospina is expected to be on his way out this summer as well. He was recently linked with a move to Fenerbahce.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud and YouTube.