Lehmann not happy with Wenger

The German international cannot believe he is being kept out of the first team by Manuel Almunia and has taken a swipe at Wenger for leaving him out of the side.

Lehmann believes he is the better keeper out of the two and is determined to win his place back after turning down a number of offers to leave the Emirates Stadium.

“I’ve shown I can win matches and titles. Even if he is just as good as me, I should be playing. There have been concrete offers. There have been some calls. But it’s possible that I’ll stay at Arsenal.”

“I want to stay with Arsenal until the end of the season,” Lehmann told journalists before keeping a clean sheet for Germany in their 4-0 Euro 2008 qualifier victory over Cyprus in Hanover.

“I have a responsibility with regard to my family and for my children, even if I were not to regain my place.

“I cannot just leave like that before the season ends,” he added.

Lehmann, 38, said he has received several offers from other clubs, though he would not name names.

But he took the opportunity to have another mild dig at his boss, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

Wenger has been selecting Spaniard Manuel Almunia ahead of Germany’s number one since Lehmann recovered from injury several weeks ago.

“I believe a manager must be honest with his players,” said Lehmann.

“During the two talks I had with him [in the summer] about my contract extension he gave me no indication of what he was going to do,” said Lehmann, who joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund in 2003.

“I would like to be in the head of my manager, but I cannot answer your questions for him,” he added.

It was a more measured and diplomatic stance than from Lehmann than in his last outburst, when he accused Wenger of “humiliating” him.

Nevertheless, he might want to ask himself whether, in the summer when Wenger was negotiating a new contract for him, either of them predicted that Lehmann would commit a calamitous howler in each of Arsenal’s first two League matches (against Fulham and Blackburn) and then get injured.

There was no choice but to put Almunia in the side and, since the Spaniard has acquitted himself well since August. Should he be blamed for taking the chance that Lehmann gave him in the first place?

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