Leno Admits Early-Season Struggles

Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno admits it was tough for him at the beginning of the season when he was on the bench.

Leno was signed from Bayer Leverkusen last summer for around £22.5 million but was initially only used as backup to the more experienced Petr Cech.

He was given game time in the Europa League and League Cup but was finally afforded a Premier League chance when Cech got injured against Watford in late September.

He did not look back after that, featuring in every Premier League game to the end of the season, and has generally been one of Arsenal’s most consistent players .

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The 27-year-old German, who has played six times for his country, said it was not easy to be out of the team initially but was told to keep the faith by Unai Emery. “It was a hard time,” Leno told DAZN DACH. “I think goalkeeper is a special position because as a striker you can come on for the last 20 minutes but a goalkeeper you don’t change too much, so it was a very tough time. “But the manager and the goalkeeper coach both told me to stay calm and focus on training. I played some games in the Europa League and Carabao Cup and it was good to have these games to improve and get a feeling for the defence. “So it was maybe good to learn and to see in training and also get confidence with your team-mates. In the end it was maybe not too bad to first be second choice in the Premier League.”