Ian Wright says Bernd Leno was sold by Arsenal to Fulham in the summer simply because Aaron Ramsdale is a ‘next level’ goalkeeper.
The Highbury legend added that Mikel Arteta felt that Leno had issues when passing out from the back and Ramsdale was simply a ‘better distributor’ than his former teammate.
For a number of seasons, with an FA Cup-winning stint from Emiliano Martinez in between, Leno was Arsenal’s main man between the sticks.
Then, during the summer of 2021, the Gunners opted to bring in Ramsdale for big-money, despite the Englishman having just suffered back-to-back relegations with Sheffield United and Bournemouth.
Ramsdale didn’t start instantly for the club, but three opening defeats eventually saw the 24-year-old don the main gloves, and he hasn’t looked back since.
Former Premier League hitman Ian Wright touched upon Leno’s time in north London and why he was let go by the club in the summer, as he told Premier League Productions (12/03/23 at 2:55 pm).
“If there were eyebrows raised when Aaron Ramsdale came in it’s because Bernd Leno was told, even when Emi Martinez had to leave, that he is the number one,” said Wright.
“Then, not long after that, Aaron Ramsdale comes in and takes his number one spot.
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“One of the main things, you could find at fault with Leno is, the way he was playing out from the back and Mikel (Arteta) wanted a better player, in respect of the goalkeeper, playing out from the back.
“What I noticed when Leno was in goal for us were teams putting more pressure on players, so the ball can go back to Leno, then he would give the ball back to the opposition and that happened. We needed a better distributor of the ball. He’s a fantastic keeper, but Aaron is next level that starts attacks.”
ARSENAL TARGET LENO
It was interesting that Arsenal seemed to target Leno during their recent 3-0 win over Fulham, with the opening goal coming via Gabriel’s head following a corner.
Ben White seemed to block Leno as the cross was coming in, with the Fulham number one opting against coming out to punch or catch the ball, which resulted in Arsenal opening the scoring.
Whilst Arsenal sit at the top of the Premier League and on their way to the title, Leno has been a top-quality addition for Fulham, who are pushing for Europe under Marco Silva.
In other news, Former Liverpool man fears Klopp is playing Harvey Elliott in wrong position
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