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Chief confirms Arsenal can sign key transfer target in £24m deal

By on June 6, 2018

According to the Daily Star, Bayer Leverkusen have confirmed key Arsenal target Bernd Leno will leave the club if someone meets his £24m release clause this summer.

New head coach Unai Emery is looking to bring in a new No.1 as Petr Cech is now 36 and his form was disappointing last season as he made several costly mistakes.

David Ospina is being tipped to leave after failing to establish himself so a new keeper is needed and Leno has emerged as a key target in recent weeks.

Reports last month said head of recruitment Sven Mislintat had opened negotiations with Leverkusen with a view to sealing a deal to sign the German international stopper.

Leno has been one of the most reliable keepers in the Bundesliga in recent years and he kept 10 clean sheets in his 33 league appearances last season so he’d be a huge upgrade on Cech.

Leverkusen have now admitted they expect Leno to leave this summer and have already signed Lukas Hradecky as his replacement, however, they insist we’ll have to meet his release clause.

Leverkusen’s sporting director Rudi Voller is quoted by the Daily Star as saying:

“Leno can leave but only on our terms. We are still in constant and open exchange with Bernd and his manager. Leno already had a concrete offer from Napoli in 2017, but we didn’t have an equivalent backup at the time.

“He had to stay and he did really well last season, but we thought Bernd’s desire to leave would resurface. And so with the arrival of Lukas Hradecky we have a high quality successor.”

The Daily Star says Leno’s exit fee is set at around £24m so he’s within our price range – despite Emery only having a modest transfer budget of between £50m-£70m available this summer.

READ: Midfielder completes move to Arsenal on 3-year deal

It’s clear Arsenal are trying to make our money go far as we’re targetting signings around the £15m-£30m range and Leno would be an excellent addition between the sticks so I say we should just meet his release clause and get the deal done.