Premier League giants Liverpool have reportedly turned their attentions towards signing Bernd Leno from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen.
Liverpool fans might be sick of the sight of German goalkeepers right now after Loris Karius’s already legendary double-howler in the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid.
The Reds have been linked with a number of top class goalkeepers this summer but Leno would come far cheaper than Alisson Becker, Jan Oblak, Jasper Cillessen and even Jack Butland. Bild reports that Bayer Leverkusen would demand around £23 million for Leno, which is quite reasonable in today’s market.
But just because Leno is cheaper does not mean he should be the man Liverpool pick to solve an issue that has persisted at the club ever since Pepe Reina’s departure. The 26-year-old was left out of Germany’s World Cup squad in favour of the unconvincing Kevin Trapp, and this can perhaps be traced back to a season in which he has made far too many errors for a goalkeeper supposed to be considered in the top bracket.
Leno is a superb shot-stopper with reflexes David de Gea would be proud of, but concentration and decision making remains an issue.
It was his amateur blunder against Australia in last summer’s Confederations Cup that appears to have put doubts in the mind of Germany coach Joachim Low while silly, avoidable errors have been worryingly prevalent across the last two seasons with Leverkusen.
Yes, Leno would be an upgrade on Karius and Simon Mignolet. But he is far behind Alisson, Oblak and co.
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