| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Manuel Almunia Rivero | ||
| Date of birth | 19 May 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Pamplona, Spain | ||
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Arsenal | ||
| Number | 1 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1997–1999 | Osasuna B | 44 | (1) |
| 1999–2000 | Osasuna | 0 | (0) |
| 1999–2000 | → Cartagena (loan) | 3 | (0) |
| 2000–2001 | Sabadell | 25 | (0) |
| 2001–2004 | Celta Vigo | 0 | (0) |
| 2001–2002 | → Eibar (loan) | 35 | (0) |
| 2002–2003 | → Recreativo Huelva (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | → Albacete (loan) | 24 | (0) |
| 2004– | Arsenal | 109 | (0) |
| 2011 | → West Ham United (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:00, 30 October 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Manuel Almunia Rivero (born 19 May 1977) is a professional footballer. He plays as a goalkeeper for Arsenal.
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Born in Pamplona, Navarre, Almunia started his senior career with Osasuna's reserve team in 1997, playing two seasons with the team in Segunda División B. He went on to spend two more seasons in the category, with Cartagena and Sabadell, joining the top flight in 2001–02, with Real Club Celta de Vigo.
However, shortly after joining Celta, Almunia was loaned out to Segunda División side Eibar, where he spent 2001–02 as first-choice goalkeeper. During the 2002–03 season, Celta loaned him out to first-division club Recreativo de Huelva, where he played understudy to José Antonio Luque and César, only making two league appearances. Almunia's début in the first division came on 17 November 2002, following a red card to the latter, in a 0–3 defeat at Deportivo Alavés.[2]
He then returned to Celta, being loaned for the third and final time, now to Albacete Balompié on 1 November 2003. He made his club début the following week, in a 1–0 loss at Málaga. Almunia achieved first-choice status, making a total of 24 league appearances until the end of the season, while helping Albacete finish 14th.[3]
Almunia joined Arsenal on 14 July 2004 for an undisclosed sum.[4] He was the second choice behind Jens Lehmann but found himself thrust into the spotlight in 2006 when he replaced Robert Pires in the 20th minute of the Champions' League Final against Barcelona following the sending-off of Lehmann.[5] Despite a sterling performance between the sticks Arsenal lost 2–1. The following season Almunia played in the League Cup Final.[6] He and Lehmann competed for the goalkeeping position and were by all accounts rivals off the pitch as well. In an interview with German television in October 2007, speaking about Wenger's decision to drop him in favour of Almunia, Lehmann said, “It’s possible that some day I’ll feel like talking about the whole issue. But at the moment I’m just swallowing it all as part of the humiliation. But I think – and this is aimed at my dear manager – one shouldn’t humiliate players for too long. I won’t just fade away quietly. Almunia has not yet showed he can win matches for us. I’ve experienced this before and know what the others are expecting from the goalkeeper.” Five months later, in April 2008, Almunia responded, “I treat people the way I would like to be treated myself. To have someone here who hates me is just amazing. Every morning I wake up I know it is going to be the same. But I don’t care any more. I come into training and work with Łukasz Fabiański and Vito Mannone. They are better than him anyway.”[7]
Almunia broke out of Lehmann's shadow in the 2007–2008 season when he finally displaced the German. He was given the number one shirt after Lehmann left for Stuttgart at the beginning of the 2008–09 season. In 2008, Almunia signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal.[8] Despite being the first-choice goalie and often team captain, Almunia's performances often frustrated Arsenal's fans. He veered between brilliant - the 2008–2009 Champions League semi-final first leg match against Manchester United,[9] and the 2009–2010 Champions League quarter final first leg against Barcelona[10] - so much so that speculation surfaced that he might play for England - and very poor (see 2010–2011 season below) with the result that rumours arose that he would be sold. [11]
Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger publicly stated that he was looking to improve the defensive line up of the first eleven which exacerbated public speculation that Almunia would be sold. However, he did save a penalty against West Ham in a 3–0 victory and kept a clean sheet against Hull City in a 3–0 victory. Over the entire season he kept ten clean sheets.
Despite speculation that Almunia would be sold, he started the season as the first-choice goalkeeper. However he was criticised for his performance against West Bromwich Albion on 25 September, conceding a penalty (which he saved), letting a tame shot slip through the near post, and being caught out of position for the third.[12] Almunia lost his place through injury and was subsequently kept out of goal by Arsenal's second and third choice keepers, the Polish goalkeeping duo of Łukasz Fabiański and Wojciech Szczęsny.
Almunia made a return to the team on 30 January 2011 against Huddersfield in the FA Cup and went on to play both games in the next round against Leyton Orient. On 8 March 2011, he came on as a 19th-minute substitute for the injured Szczęsny against Barcelona in the Champions League last-16 stage and made a series of fine saves as Arsenal lost 3–1 to exit the tournament 4–3 on aggregate. He was voted the Man of the Match by fans on the club's official website.[13] With Szczęsny out of action for up to six weeks after suffering a dislocated finger, and with Fabianski out with a shoulder injury, and with Mannone out with injury, Almunia again became Arsenal's first-choice keeper. On 19 March, during a 2–2 draw at West Brom, Almunia was caught out of position along with Sébastien Squillaci, gifting the home side their second goal. Former Arsenal number 1 Jens Lehmann had returned to the club as backup to Almunia. Almunia's woes continued when he injured his knee during the warm-up in the Premier League match away to Blackpool on 10 April 2011. Almunia had to watch the match from the bench as Jens Lehmann took over in goal in the match that Arsenal won 3–1. Szczęsny then returned from injury and Lehmann was again backup which left Almunia as third goalkeeper who did not feature again for the rest of the 2010–11 campaign.
Almunia began the season out of favour with manager Wenger preferring Wojciech Szczęsny and Łukasz Fabiański. Almunia was not even on the bench for the Gunners' Carling Cup match on 20 September 2011 against Shrewsbury Town (which Arsenal won 3–1), the reserve goalie's jersey being given to 19-year-old Argentine Damian Martinez who has yet to make a first team appearance in any competitions for Arsenal.
On 30 September 2011, Almunia signed an initial one-month emergency loan deal after West Ham United's Robert Green was ruled out for six weeks with a knee cartilage injury.[14] Almunia made his debut for the Hammers on 1 October 2011 in a 2–2 draw away to Crystal Palace.[15] At the end of October 2011 after four games for West Ham and with the return to fitness of Robert Green, Almunia returned to Arsenal.[16]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | C.S. | Apps | C.S. | Apps | C.S. | Apps | C.S. | Apps | C.S. | ||
| Arsenal | 2004–05 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 5 |
| 2005–06 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 13 | 3 | |
| 2006–07 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 4 | |
| 2007–08 | 30 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 39 | 14 | |
| 2008–09 | 32 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 5 | 44 | 15 | |
| 2009–10 | 29 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 34 | 11 | |
| 2010–11 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 1 | |
| 2011–12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Arsenal total | 110 | 34 | 12 | 1 | 14 | 4 | 37 | 14 | 173 | 53 | |
| West Ham United (loan) | 2011–12 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Career total | 113 | 36 | 12 | 1 | 14 | 4 | 37 | 14 | 178 | 55 | |
Apps – Appearances; C.S. – Clean sheets.
Almunia has not played international football. He has stated on more than one occasion his wish to play for England, only provided that he did not receive a call-up from the Euro 2008-winning Spain first. He was not called up to Spain's national team for Euro 2008 so the option of playing for England is still available. He qualifies because he holds both Spanish and British Citizenship having lived and worked in England for more than five years.[17]
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