• Premier League

Almunia will consider future if new 'keeper arrives

ESPN staff
August 16, 2010
Manuel Almunia has made a series of costly errors © Getty Images
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Manuel Almunia has admitted that he will be forced to consider his future at Arsenal if the club bring in another goalkeeper before the end of the transfer window.

The 33-year-old started Arsenal's first game of the Premier League season - a 1-1 draw at Liverpool - but he failed to produce a commanding performance, and was criticised for his failure to keep out David Ngog's second-half strike.

It was was not the first time that Almunia has attracted bad press - he made a series of high-profile blunders last season that prompted Gunners boss Arsene Wenger to drop him for the similarly error-prone Lukasz Fabianski.

With both of their senior goalkeepers struggling to stake a strong claim for the No. 1 shirt, the Gunners have been strongly linked with Fulham stopper Mark Schwarzer, who has told new Cottagers boss Mark Hughes that he is desperate to move to the Emirates Stadium.

In the wake of the Schwarzer rumours, Almunia has admitted that all the speculation swirling around his head about his future at the club has made it hard for him to focus.

"To be honest, it is so difficult to concentrate because Arsenal is a big club and speculation is always in the news and everywhere," he told the Evening Standard. "The only thing I can do is keep working because I have a contract here and I have to do what the manager wants from me.

"I have not spoken to him. If somebody comes in, I will have to talk about my future at Arsenal. That is it. I cannot talk now, because the talking would be for nothing. I have to work and if one day I am not good for Arsenal, I will talk. That is no problem. I am very happy here.

"The only news I have is from third parties - people at the training ground. When I go out and when I come back from training, I switch off."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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