Bernd Leno has received a call-up to the Germany squad for the upcoming international break, after showing good form during his spell in the Arsenal first team.
The Germany Twitter account announced Joachim Low’s 24-man squad for the matches against Russia and the Netherlands on Friday morning, confirming Leno’s involvement with his country.
https://twitter.com/DFB_Team_EN/status/1060858039455150081
It’s been quite a while since Leno last played for Germany, having last made an appearance against Azerbaijan in October 2017. Since then he’s received a couple of call-ups, but hasn’t spent any time on the pitch, and was notably excluded for the World Cup this summer.
This is a good opportunity for the goalkeeper though. Manuel Neuer is still undoubtedly number one for Germany, but his closest competitor is usually Marc ter Stegen. On this occasion ter Stegen is injured, leaving the way open for either Leno or Kevin Trapp to act as the second choice goalkeeper.
The coach has given rests to both @JB17Official and @mterstegen1, with the latter carrying a slight shoulder problem.#DieMannschaft #GERRUS #GERNED pic.twitter.com/7cjVaDMYpw
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) November 9, 2018
If nothing else, it’s at least a confidence boost for the goalkeeper to know he’s still in Low’s thoughts.
By the same token, it will be a bit of a blow to Shkodran Mustafi not to make the 24. He’ll know he needs to show more consistency before getting call-ups again though, despite one good performance against Liverpool last weekend.