Gunners close on Almunia
Arsenal are still refusing to confirm the £500,000 (€749,092) signing of Spanish goalkeeper Manuel Almunia from Celta Vigo but the deal is expected to go through within the next 48 hours.
A sticking point may be that Celta Vigo still owe the Gunners around £1m (€1.5m) on their signing of former Highbury full-back Silvinho two years ago and negotiations could revolve around how much of the Brazilian’s valuation will be wiped off by Almunia’s arrival in north London.
The 27-year-old Almunia, on loan from Celta to Albacete last season, is likely to be employed as experienced cover for German star Jens Lehmann – who won a title medal in his first season at Arsenal despite severe doubts over his temperament.
And Almunia’s arrival may put a further question mark over the future of former England Under-21 goalkeeper Stuart Taylor at Highbury, where he had high hopes of graduating to the first-team duty after David Seaman’s switch to Manchester City a year ago.
But Taylor was never really able to challenge Lehmann through a variety of hand and shoulder injury problems last season.
And, even when finally fit, he was still often regarded as behind another youngster, Graham Stack, in Arsenal’s goalkeeping pecking order.
Stack made four senior starts last season – all in the Worthington Cup. He was also an unused substitute in 30 Premiership, FA Cup and Champions League games - compared to Taylor’s eight appearances on the bench.
Already it looks certain that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will rely heavily again on the squad which won the Premiership title last season.
He has long insisted that his his close-season signings have already been done - with the arrival of Spain striker Jose Reyes in January and Dutch forward Robin van Persie in May.
But Wenger has added a new imported foreign face this week with the recruitment of Italian striker Arturo Lupoli, 17, on a two-year scholarship contract from Parma.
