Five years ago last month Manuel Almunia arrived at Arsenal from the backwaters of Spanish football with a sense of shock and awe. He had just spent another season on loan from Celta Vigo, his third in a row with a different club, and helped Albacete Balompié avoid relegation. Arsenal, meanwhile, had just won the Premier League and become the first club in 115 year! s of English football to remain undefeated in an entire top-flight league campaign.
"I was 27 but I was very shy because everybody at Arsenal was a big star in world football," Almunia grins ruefully. "Bergkamp. Vieira. Henry. Ljungberg. Pires. Cole. Campbell. I signed just when they'd become the Invincibles. I couldn't believe it."
Oh, dear...
