Some interesting news on the Spanish goalkeeper this evening. Almunia spoke out recently on the launch of Arsenal’s 2009/10 charity campaign. He told us that he enjoyed getting involved with charities and it reminds him of when he was younger.
Almunia also suffered from asthma when he was younger. Telling us also as a child he always wanted to be an outfield player, but suffering from asthma, his father didn’t let him run much. That’s what kept him in goal for his love for football.
These are his exact words.
“I’m a goalkeeper because I couldn’t run anywhere,” he revealed.
“I wanted to be an outfield player, but my father did not allow me to run a lot, so I was between the sticks all the time.
“All children want to score goals and I wanted to be a striker, but from the time I first played football, when I was six or seven years old, I was a goalkeeper.”
Arsene Wenger added Spanish goalkeeper Manuel Almunia to his squad in July 2004 with the former Celta Vigo star penning a long-term contract with the Gunners after signing for an undisclosed fee.
The experienced shot-stopper spent the previous season on loan at Albacete and made 22 appearances for the La Liga side and also enjoyed loan spells at Eibar and Recreativo Huelva during his time at Celta Vigo.
Alumnia started his career at Osasuna B and made 44 appearances for the Spanish side between 1997-99. He went on to have spells at Cartagonova and Sabadell before signing for Celta Vigo.
His first season at Highbury saw him providing some serious competition for Jens Lehmann in the Arsenal goal. When Wenger rested Lehmann in the winter months of the 2004/05 season, Almunia took his chance and kept four clean sheets. He notched up 16 games, a tally which decreased to just thirteen in the 05/06 season.
That season ended on an exciting note though as he made a substitute appearance for the sent-off Lehmann in the Champions League final against Barcelona. He made several impressive saves but couldn’t stop Barca from coming back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 and deny Arsenal their first ever European Cup.
Lehmann remained first choice stopper in 2006/07, but Almunia was handed his opportunity in 07/08 and seized it. Keeping an increasingly frustrated Lehmann out of the first team squad, he put in a series of fine performances and is now considered Arsene Wenger’s first choice keeper.
Following the departure of Lehmann to Stuttgart during the summer of 2008, Almunia was given the number one shirt, having previously worn 24. He captained Arsenal for the first time in the Champions League against Fenerbache, and then again in the game against Manchester City after William Gallas was stripped of the captaincy.
He remained number 1 for the 2008/09 and a series of impressive displays led to some tipping him for a place in the England squad (he can soon request British citizenship). However, some high-profile errors, notably in the Champions League semi-final second leg against Manchester United, proved Almunia cannot be ranked alongside the Gunners’ greatest keepers just yet.
