Matt Macey is now listed as the only senior backup to Bernd Leno on the Arsenal website going into the season, so it’s inevitable that another signing is going to have to come in.
Emi Martinez confirmed his transfer to Aston Villa earlier on today so there’s an urgent need to sign a back up keeper, but it looks like a new signing will purely be a back up and not a challenger to Leno.
Arsenal had already been linked with a Dijon player in Mounir Chouiar earlier on today, but it now looks like they are also going after his teammate to fill that goalkeeping void:
#Arsenal to target Iceland goalkeeper Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson from French club Dijon as replacement for Emi Martinez following move to Villa #AVFC #AFC
— Mike McGrath (@mcgrathmike) September 13, 2020
The Icelandic international hasn’t always been the automatic starter for the Ligue 1 side so you have to presume that Bernd Leno will continue to be the undisputed number one, while it also suggests that he might be cheap too.
It’s a move that would make sense as the back up keeper is only going to play in the event of a disaster while there are other areas of the squad that need to be improved.
Replacing Martinez is now a pressing need and you have to think they wouldn’t have allowed him to leave if a back up wasn’t already lined up, so expect something to happen very soon.