Arsenal goalkeeper Alex Runarsson has revealed he left the club this summer after they made it clear there would not be opportunities for him.
The 26-year-old joined Arsenal from Dijon for £1.8m in September last year to provide competition for Bernd Leno.
Several shaky performances saw him quickly ruled out as an option, though, with the Gunners instead paying big to bring Aaron Ramsdale to the club in the summer.
He’s since established himself as the Arsenal number one, ousting Leno, who is now very much the number two at the club.
That meant Runarsson found himself even further down the pecking order, leading him to depart for OH Leuven on loan in the summer.
He’s had to wait for his chance at the Belgium club, starting the season sat on the bench before making his league debut at the end of November.
Since then, he’s started all of their games but is yet to impress, with seven goals conceded in his five games in all competitions so far.
It’s a far cry from what he would have been experiencing at Arsenal, though, who he says made it clear he would not be playing.
“To be able to enjoy something more as a professional,” he told Sport Magazine when asked why he left in the summer.
“I was never guaranteed to be first goalkeeper here at OH Leuven, but I wanted to go to a team where there would be opportunities, and I wouldn’t be purely a training goalkeeper collecting his wages.
“Aaron Ramsdale was brought in at Arsenal to compete with Bernd Leno, and they were always honest with me about that.
“It was going to be more difficult, also because there was no European soccer. A loan move turned out to be the best solution.”
