Arsenal have announced Bernd Leno will wear number 19 for the club in 2018/19, after a bit of a wait for his new number.

Arsenal announced the signing of Leno all the way back in mid-June, but at the time they held back on giving the new goalkeeper a number. Now, however, they’ve revealed the German will wear 19 in the coming season.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1016260798660972544

Presumably, Arsenal were waiting to see what happened with the two senior goalkeepers currently at the club, Petr Cech and David Ospina. Cech had just taken the number 1 shirt, so if he ended up leaving, that left it open for Leno. When he turned down Napoli to stay at Arsenal, that ended that possibility.

Meanwhile, Ospina still seems very likely to leave, but he isn’t doing so quickly enough. Arsenal’s pre-season matches begin this weekend, and Leno needs a shirt number by then. Not to mention all the shirt sales the club are missing out on by waiting.

At this point Arsenal just had to make a decision, and allocate Leno one of the available numbers. He can always change in a year’s time, when Cech and Ospina’s contracts expire. Until then, meet your new number 19!