On Tuesday 2nd August 2022, the Club confirmed the signing of Bernd Leno from Arsenal for an undisclosed fee.

Leno immediately became a crowd favourite at Craven Cottage, and was a strong contender for Player of the Season in each of his first two campaigns at the Club, while he also signed a new contract until 2027, with a Club option to extend by a further 12 months.

Having come through the ranks at VfB Stuttgart, Leno joined Bayer Leverkusen on loan at the age of 19, and immediately established himself as the club’s number one.

Leno performed at a level that belied his young age, becoming only the third goalkeeper in Bundesliga history to secure clean sheets in his first three matches, before breaking the record for the youngest ‘keeper to appear in the Champions League shortly after.

Leverkusen soon made the deal permanent, and Leno went on to enjoy seven excellent seasons at the BayArena, making 304 appearances and keeping 100 clean sheets.

The lowest the club finished, in six of those seven campaigns, was fifth.

His consistency in Germany prompted Arsenal to bring Leno to London for a fee reported to be north of £20m ahead of the 2018/19 campaign.

Leno quickly displaced Petr Cech between the sticks, and ended his first season at the club with a Europa League runner-up medal, before finishing second in the club’s player of the season vote a year later.

He departed the Emirates with plenty of Premier League experience under his belt, and also claimed 37 clean sheets in his 125 appearances across all competitions.