Almunia had to wait three seasons to establish himself as first-choice goalkeeper at Arsenal and has made 175 appearances for the club since. But, after a number of high-profile errors he has clearly lost the confidence of both his fans and his manager. Having fallen behind Lukasz Fabianski and now Wojciech Szczesny at the Emirates Almunia has found appearances hard to come by. And the re-signing of old rival Jens Lehman out of retirement was surely a large enough vote of no confidence for Almunia to realise that his best interests lie elsewhere next season.
