It is looking increasingly likely that Jens Lehman could be set for a sensational return to Arsenal, nearly a year after he hung up his gloves and retired from the game. The German was due to spend the next few weeks at the club working on his coaching badges, although Lehman could be asked to go a bit further and resign for the club on a short-term deal.
The drastic measure has been forced upon Arsene Wenger following injuries to three of his goalkeepers, Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone all currently unavailable with injury, so not featured in football betting picks. The lack of keepers has left Manuel Almunia as the club’s only fit senior stopper available. The Spaniard has been in inspired form since returning to the first-team but any problem with Almunia would leave Wenger donning the gloves himself unless he can bring in a short-term measure.
41-year old Lehman spent five years at the club before returning to Germany with Stuttgart in 2008. Despite retiring last year, it is understood that Lehman would be happy to help out his old club in their time of need and a deal could be struck in time for the former German international to take his place on the bench in next weekend’s trip to West Brom.
Edwin van der Saar and David James have both shown that age is but a number when it comes to goalkeeping and raise the stakes in soccer betting odds but Lehman’s return isn’t going to be the answer to the club’s continued problems between the sticks. This summer, Wenger needs to finally decide if one of the keepers currently at the club is capable of doing the job as the team’s number one, or whether he finally needs to go out and splash the cash on a goalkeeper capable of taking this team to the next level.
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