I'm not sure how impressed I am with Mislintat's scouting so far. Suddenly we're only linked to Bundesliga players.

Pretty obvious, middle of the road players too. Come on Sven, you can do better than this.

If Liverpool can't get Allison will they go for Leno instead?

I think they will get their man, Roma are asking for stupid money but apart from Liverpool this summer I doubt anyone will pay big money for him.

A few on my twitter timeline saying Leno's replacement Hradecky is better, jones says that earlier in this thread as well. Leverkusen signed him for free as well!

JazzG wrote:

A few on my twitter timeline saying Leno's replacement Hradecky is better, jones says that earlier in this thread as well. Leverkusen signed him for free as well!

Yeah that is quite off-putting I have to say. 

This is as bad a review as one can get.
"In short, the 26-year-old often lacks focus in big matches and apparently has a bad positioning sense too, making him no different than the current crop of Liverpool keepers."
http://www.thehardtackle.com/news/2018/06/07/transfer-rumour-liverpool-preparing-a-move-for-bayer-leverkusens-bernd-leno/

He was hot stuff when he first broke through, but has tailed off since. I'm assuming that the hope is we can get him to his best level again.

Looks like he might be on his way to Napoli.

Good.

we desperately need a new goalkeeper.

Total agreement b/w #Napoli and #Leno, what’s remaining is to finalise the payment structure with Bayer. The German GK will not listen/accept offers from any other club [via @seanpelucchi]

Good news for us? But we still need a new GK.

If Hradecky was free, probably would've chosen us instead of Leverkusen and is better than Leno, then this was never happening.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying 100% Quincy but Hradecky was B04 bound since last summer, don't think he entertained any other offers after agreeing to move to them.

If that's true then fair enough. What I originally meant was assuming he would choose us over Leverkusen. If that was the case, why would we pay for the lesser option if we could get the better one for free?

Ah okay then. Don't think Hradecky was ever interested in leaving Germany he seems pretty comfortable here.

SportBILD says we are signing him.

Getting our business done early then

Leno
Lichtsteiner
Sokratis
Torreira

Is a solid start - most certainly strengthens us

I hope now for a few young talents and maybe a marque winger

Still buzzing that we got Aubameyang

Yeah, our spine really was completely fucked for the past two years and if we actually go and replace the old helmet head, bring in a capable CB and add a midfielder, then we have done really well. Our attack in itself is definitely not a problem.

is he any good? haven't seen much of leverkusen lately

it's encouraging that all the problem areas are being addressed quickly

Can’t say I have watched him but this doesn’t make me too hopeful.

Don't rate him. Would rather Butland if we were going down the cheap goalie route.

Oh please not another error-prone goalkeeper.

Might as well get Karius.

Alfredo Pedulla (Tier 1 in Italy): Arsenal have offered Leverkusen €20m for Bernd Leno. Leverkusen want €22m + bonuses.

This guy is very reliable...

Fabrizio Romano: Leno getting closer to Arsenal

Orny also said we are in for a KG. So this is looking like it will happen.

The way I see it...(note that I'm trying to be positive about Arsenal things now). He is 26, he started young as the next best thing but slowed his development last few years, so I'm hoping he can go up another level here. Maybe a move is what he needs to kick on, and I also trust the new coaching team to push the players at the club and make them better.
Also, even at the level he is now, he is still better then Cech and Ospina. And with a few new players in defense and Unai teaching them how to defend there is no way we don't get better ... no way we don't concede less then last year. We can only go up from here....
Sell Ospina and Ema Martinez and we can make up close to the 20 mil we pay for him.

Good points Steak. It's obviously not at all a given but look at the trajectory of Ter Stegen, he was considered a big talent but kept making loads of mistakes for Gladbach and the German youth and A teams, even his first seasons at Barcelona were very shaky. Now he's better or equal to anyone not called Oblak or Neuer. Not to say it'll happen again but it's not unthinkable that Leno would make the next step in his development at a bigger club, after all despite his 300+ apps he's still only 26, just a couple months older than Alisson who everyone is still expecting to grow better.

Ter Stegen ans Leno by the way have a badblooded rivalry or rather feud since their U16 days, Matthias Sammer used to describe it as Ter Stegen being Oliver Kahn's and Leno as Lehmann's heir. Not the worst keeper to be compared to

He looks decent with the ball at his feet.

He’ll start off our Merryballing right from the back!

jones wrote:

Good points Steak. It's obviously not at all a given but look at the trajectory of Ter Stegen, he was considered a big talent but kept making loads of mistakes for Gladbach and the German youth and A teams, even his first seasons at Barcelona were very shaky. Now he's better or equal to anyone not called Oblak or Neuer. Not to say it'll happen again but it's not unthinkable that Leno would make the next step in his development at a bigger club, after all despite his 300+ apps he's still only 26, just a couple months older than Alisson who everyone is still expecting to grow better.

Ter Stegen ans Leno by the way have a badblooded rivalry or rather feud since their U16 days, Matthias Sammer used to describe it as Ter Stegen being Oliver Kahn's and Leno as Lehmann's heir. Not the worst keeper to be compared to

Exactly - Szczesny also pushed on once he left us after his career started to stagnate.

That said, we're not a club that tends to improve goalkeepers. Hopefully that's going to change

Yeah having Gerry Peyton as your coach was the equivalent of a doctor prescribing you growing doses of mercury. Expecting a sharp change of form in that respect

Leverkusen replaced him with Hradecky and have been looking to offload him. If that's not a warning sign I don't know what is.

Hradecky is the better keeper currently and on a better development curve, three or four years older too. To be fair to Leno he actually wanted to leave more than a year ago but wasn't allowed to because his club couldn't find a replacement.

22m is a bit steep for him to be honest considering Ederson cost about 30m. Would be expecting someone better for 22m. Currently Leno is about the level of Szczesny in my opinion so it's pretty much going back to the same level we are used to with keepers and not a major improvement (although anyone decent bar Cech will be good).

Wonder if we could have gone for someone like Lafont or Kepa for 22m?

Lafont would cost closer to £10m and sort our GK position for the next decade.

Clrnc wrote:

Currently Leno is about the level of Szczesny in my opinion so it's pretty much going back to the same level we are used to with keepers

If you're talking about current day Szcezny it's not going back to what we're used to. Arsenal Szczesny however...

Ray wrote:

Lafont would cost closer to £10m and sort our GK position for the next decade.

Agree, and I had put Lafont on my wishlist on another thread, but he won't come in and become a starter in our team today and I think that's what we are looking for. Lafont has to be bought with another keeper who can be first choice for a couple of years before he can take over.

I would be ok with Cech and Lafont rotating this season.

Lafont is where Leno was a few years ago and had a similar reputation. Surely you all see the irony?