Jens Lehmann is close to rejoining Arsenal and resuming competition for top spot with Manuel Almunia, five years after the German left the club.
The 41 year-old, who played for Arsenal 199 times between 2003 and 2008, has been out of football since leaving Stuttgart in 2010 but has been called upon to help the club cope with the current goalkeeping crisis.
With goalkeepers Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone injured the German is expected to go straight into the squad for Saturday’s trip to West Brom.
This could mean that he is understudy to Manuel Almunia, a position he is unlikely to accept happily. The former German international had a competitive on-field relationship with the Spaniard who eventually took his position as number one. The two also had a hostile relationship away from football, with Almunia once saying of Lehman: “I know he hates me.”
Lehmann won the Premier League and FA Cup with Arsenal but became the first man to ever be sent off in a Champions League final in 2006, which Arsenal lost 2-1 to Barcelona.
