Bernd Leno insists he holds no bitterness over his departure from Arsenal and made it clear he wants them to win the Premier League.
The goalkeeper spent four years with the Gunners but lost his place to Aaron Ramsdale last season. The Englishman has since played a crucial part in Arsenal's title challenge, with Mikel Arteta's men five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table.
Leno, meanwhile, swapped a title fight for newly-promoted Fulham, who are enjoying a surprisingly good campaign themselves. The Cottagers are flying high in seventh place and Leno has started all but two of their games.
With Marco Silva's men bang in form, Leno has admitted that leaving the Emirates last summer was the right decision. The German insisted he holds no ill feeling towards Arteta for pushing him towards the exit.
“I don’t have toxic [feelings] or bad energy for Arsenal. It didn’t end in the perfect way, but my reception at the Emirates was really good. I get fans coming up to me saying, ‘thank you for your four years... you were very good’," he told the Evening Standard.
“I was really happy with my performances. Even when they dropped me, I did nothing wrong. I came through the front door and I left through the front door. I still have a connection to the club.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Did Arsenal make the right decision by selling Bernd Leno last summer? Comment below.
"It was clear for me, I wanted to stay in the Premier League. It’s the best league in the world by far - and London life, I really love it here."
Leno is also backing the Gunners to complete their surprise title challenge and finally win the club's first Premier League for 19 years. He added: "I hope they do it, I think they can."
The German's comments mark a change in tune from the start of the season, when he fired a not-so-subtle dig at Arteta for dropping him in favour of Ramsdale. Leno hinted that "politics" led to him losing his place.
“When I realised that it wasn’t about performance or quality, I knew that I had to go. In preparation, I saw that it is not about performance, but only about politics. It was clear to me - I had to get out of here,” he told Sport BILD in September.
“The most important thing for me is to find my rhythm again. Especially after I wasn’t actually able to train properly at Arsenal and had no preparation. It’s up to me to get the focus back on the national team.”
Arteta was left surprised by that dig from his former goalkeeper, insisting he had no idea what Leno was hinting at. The Spaniard admitted to being left perplexed by Leno's reasoning, saying: “I’m really surprised and I don’t know if he’s talking about the politics when he was starting every match or the politics when he wasn’t playing – [I am] really surprised about it.”
