Bernd Leno wants to move to Napoli, to join up with Carlo Ancelotti, and isn’t interested in a move to Arsenal, according to reports in Italy.

The media have heavily linked the Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper with a move in recent weeks and months. Arsenal, Napoli and Atletico Madrid were the three teams reportedly in for him, but it seemed like Napoli were out of the race after Leno’s agent confirmed they’d ‘cancelled’ negotiations with the club.

Now it seems the situation is reversed, and suddenly Napoli are the favourites for his signature. Corriere dello Sport (via Calcio Napoli 1926) claim the 26-year-old has ‘clearly expressed’ his desire to join the Italian side. He’s reportedly now ‘only waiting for Napoli’, despite knowing of interest from Arsenal.

The news will be a blow to Arsenal head of recruitment Sven Mislintat. According to various reports, he was pushing the club’s move for the goalkeeper. Now it seems they’ll have to look elsewhere to fill the position.

David Ospina and Petr Cech’s contracts both expire in 2019, so there’s no way Arsenal can ignore the problem. Unless they want to start the 2019/20 season with a couple of youth goalkeepers.

Hopefully they have a back-up plan in place.