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The Gunners goalkeeper had to play his second violin against Petr Cech early in the season, but ended the match by becoming one of Unai Emery's key players.
Bernd Leno believes he has finished his first season in England in the most successful form of his career, despite a "very difficult" period during his first few months at Arsenal.
Arriving in North London from Bayer Leverkusen on a £ 20m ($ 25m) deal last summer, it was expected that Leno would come directly under the new look of Unai Emery at the expense of Petr Cech.
But Emery surprised many when he chose to start the season with the most experienced Cech in the Premier League, while Leno had to wait for the Europa League meeting with Vorskla to make his first start for his new club.
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Another start followed in the Carabao Cup against Brentford, but in the match against Watford in late September, Leno had not been involved for a minute in the Premier League.
For a player who had made more than 230 appearances with Leverkusen before leaving Germany, it was a difficult situation to handle.
"It was a difficult time," said Leno exclusively DAZN DACH. "I think the goalkeeper is a special position because as an attacker you can play for the last 20 minutes, but you do not change a lot of goalkeeper, so it's a very difficult time.
"But the coach and the goalkeeper coach have told me to stay calm and focus on training. I have played a few games in the Europa League and Carabao Cup and it was good to have these matches to improve and have a sense of defense.
"It was good for my teammates because when you come to another club and another country, everything is new. I've also started a little later in pre-season and everything is a little bigger.
"So it was perhaps good to learn and see at the training and also to have confidence with his teammates. In the end, it was perhaps not so bad to be the first choice in the Premier League. "
Things changed for Leno when Cech was injured shortly after half-time against Watford on 29 September.
The German has been featured on the bench and has played every minute in the Premier League since, Cech having to settle for appearances in cup matches.
Despite a few moments of nervousness at the beginning, Leno became one of Arsenal's most consistent performers – which is evidenced by the fact that he was one of six players to have earned the title of the season.
This prize was won by Alexandre Lacazette, for whom Leno himself would have voted, but the 27-year-old admits that he was proud to be right in the running.
"When I arrived here, I did not expect anything like that," he said. "Of course, it made me happy to be one of those six players.
"It's a good feeling to make fans happy when you play. When fans are happy, so are we. It makes me proud. "
Germany has two international matches in June, against Belarus and Estonia in qualifying for Euro 2020.
If Leno does not receive Joachim Low's call, he will spend the summer preparing for his second full season in the Premier League.
And he thinks he'll be heading to the 2019-20 campaign in the best shape of his career, leaving behind the comfort of Leverkusen.
"I can feel that I have improved with this great step towards another country," he said.
"Arsenal is my second professional club of my career, so I think I have come a long way because the quality in the Premier League is very high, just like at Arsenal.
"So I think I'm in a good time and I'm happy to be here to improve my situation.
"That's why I came to Arsenal."
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