Is Bernd Leno (still) worth the money?

Our number one was a bargain - Matt Littlejohn explores whether that's still the case.

Fulham famously paid a mere £3.6m to Arsenal for Bernd Leno in 2022/23. At the time, we were, as Fulham fans, elated that the club pulled off such a coup. Leno was, according to Transfermarkt, worth £8m. And it was no surprise when he immediately proved his worth.

That season, Bernd led the league in goals prevented and was second in the league – among all goalkeepers – for save percentage, stopping an incredible 76.3% of all shots. He was clearly a big reason we stayed up in our first season back in the top flight.

Although our initial outlay was ludicrously low, the club has paid a lot for Mr. Leno over the course of his stay. He is, in 2025/26, the fifth-highest paid ‘keeper in the league and the highest paid player on our squad. Currently, Leno makes nearly £6.8m a year - likely more than £7 million with bonuses.

Of course, in 2022/23, Leno was worth it even with his (few) flaws - specifically passing and playing out of the back.

Leno’s feet, other than when used for blocking shots, were a big reason why Arsenal was willing to let him go in the first place. Firstly, Leno is not fast. Last year, according to Opta, Leno was the slowest player in all of the Premier League with a top speed of 23.6kmph. Opta noted – hilariously – that this meant “according to our definition of what makes a sprint (25kmph), he has not sprinted even once despite playing every single minute in 2024/25.”

Secondly, Leno is – relatively – not great at distributing the ball after he gets it. So far, this season he has made 95 successful long passes, which leaves him in the bottom five PL goalkeepers. Jordan Pickford is number one, with more than 215 successful long passes. While Leno has occasionally connected, too often his passes and goal kicks end up simply giving possession to the other team.

Leno’s problems with goal kicks and passing in general may be a big reason why Fulham paid nearly £30m to get Joachim Andersen from Crystal Palace.

If you combine Joa with Bernd (“JoaBernd”?) you theoretically get an elite goalkeeper who can make saves and distribute the ball. Andersen is also the team’s fourth-highest paid player, earning more than £4.6m a year. That makes “JoaBernd” the second-most expensive ‘keeper in the league, earning a total of over £11m a year.

In terms of successful long passes, Joa is fifth in the league this year, with 129 so far. He’s actually, according to FotMob, second in the league for “accurate long balls per 90” with 5.7 per game. And, Andersen is good at other things, like clearing and heading the ball.

He’s the fourth best in the league in clearances per 90 with 7.7 per game and fourth best, according to Opta Analyst, in terms of percent of aerial duels won at 71.4%.

But Joa’s not perfect. While faster than Leno, Andersen is still relatively slow. FIFA ratings give him a pace rating of 39, the same as 38-year-old Tim Ream. We have, just as we did with Ream, every reason to be terrified whenever we see a pacy winger run at him.

But, still, maybe “JoaBernd” is kind of working, as the as the Andersen’s lofted ball to Chukwueze against Brighton showed.

We’re ninth in the table. But in terms of defence, we’re 13th for clean sheets (with five) and 13th for xG conceded. And, most distressingly, the stats indicate that Leno’s in decline. Since 2022/23, Bernd’s ranking among all goalkeepers in the Premier League has dropped from second to 12th this year for save percentage, and from first to 16th for goals prevented.

You might have noticed Leno is not making stops as often, as he used to as demonstrated by the screamer from Ayari getting by him in the Brighton game. Unfortunately, the data backs this up. Leno’s “goals prevented” numbers have fallen dramatically from stopping 9.5 goals in 2022/23 to allowing 4.9 more goals last year into the net last year, a swing of 14.

Our 33-year keeper’s contract expires at the end of the 2026/27. Fulham have an option to extend it by a year at that point. It will be interesting to see whether or not we do and if, if the club instead buys a ‘keeper than can make saves and passes, what that means for Joachim Andersen.